Wild Dunes Literary Series Presents Books & Bites with Mary Alice Monroe and Barb Bergwerf

Wild Dunes Literary Series returns with Books & Bites featuring bestselling author and series founder Mary Alice Monroe alongside debut novelist Barb Bergwerf. Enjoy refreshments and a lively conversation about writing, friendship, sea turtles, and reinventing yourself at any stage of life. Tickets are on sale now!

Location: Indigo Room at the Sweetgrass Inn

Date: Tuesday, May 19

Time: 10:30 a.m. - 12 p.m.

Join Mary Alice Monroe and Barb Bergwerf—authors and longtime friends—for Books & Bites as the Wild Dunes Literary Series returns to the beach!

When we gather at Wild Dunes Resort on the beautiful Isle of Palms, SC, expect a morning of “turtle-y” amazing literary fun. We’ll be celebrating the paperback release of Mary Alice’s latest novel, Where the Rivers Merge, along with Barb Bergwerf’s debut romantic political thriller, Fatal Exposure, set in part right here in the Lowcountry.

As Barb and Mary Alice talk, they will reflect on stages of life, career, family, and what's to come in new chapters of life, as only friends who have known each other more than 20 years can. 

But that's not all! Friends and fans of Mary Alice will know she is a passionate advocate for wildlife of all kinds, but especially for sea turtles. So is Barb! In fact, they first met in 1999 on the Island Turtle Team and have been best friends ever since. No gathering of these two authors would be complete if they didn't also get to put on their conservationist hats and talk turtles. Hear the story of their first meeting, the work they do with Island Turtle Team, and get fun sea turtle facts! May is the start of sea turtle season after all...

Enjoy delicious light bites and a complimentary coffee and tea bar while you listen. A cash bar will also be available. All of this and more against the backdrop of the ocean, visible from the event's location in the Indigo Room and Rooftop Bar at Sweetgrass Inn.

Each ticket includes a seat in the Indigo Room and Rooftop Bar for the conversation, light bites, coffee and tea bar, and a $5 voucher that can be used to purchase either of the featured titles at the Buxton Books pop-up shop on-site at the event. 

Tickets to the event would make an excellent Mother's Day gift for any of the moms in your life! Or, treat yourself and a BFF to an early summer ‘kick-off’ before the beach season rush. Perfect for book lovers, beach lovers, and sea turtle lovers. We hope to see you there!

Please note: Tickets to this event are non-refundable. 

About Barb Bergwerf:

Born in Chicago and raised in the Midwest, Barb Bergerf discovered her passion for photography at an early age. After earning a degree in International Affairs from George Washington University, she worked in government service before returning to Chicago, where she built a career in photojournalism, including time as a staff photographer for the Chicago Tribune.

A lifelong creative, she later founded an award-winning stained glass studio in Northfield, Illinois, where she spent more than twenty years creating and teaching Tiffany-style stained glass. Now based in South Carolina’s Lowcountry, she works as a photographer with organizations including the Center for Birds of Prey, the South Carolina Aquarium, and the Island Turtle Team.

Her debut novel, Fatal Exposure, brings together a lifetime of visual storytelling and a long-held passion for writing.

About Fatal Exposure:

She captured the shot that could change the world. But some secrets should stay buried in the Lowcountry sand.

When twenty-one-year-old photojournalist Kate Miller lands her dream internship at The Washington Post, she expects to chase headlines — not become one. But when she photographs the shocking assassination of an oil minister in Tehran, her images spark an international firestorm and win the paper a Pulitzer. For her own safety, Kate must remain anonymous.

Back in Washington, Kate’s instincts pull her into another story — this time, one wrapped in charm and danger. Her heart betrays her when she falls for Jim Rayford, a charismatic congressman from South Carolina with secrets of his own. Their romance takes her from the marble halls of D.C. to the windswept beaches of the Lowcountry, where power and passion collide.

But when a rising political star ascends to the Vice Presidency — and a shocking assassination rocks the White House — Kate’s camera may hold the only truth that can unravel a deadly conspiracy.

Fatal Exposure is a smart, atmospheric romantic thriller blending Washington intrigue with Southern heart — perfect for readers of Mary Alice Monroe, Sandra Brown, and Karen White.

About Mary Alice Monroe:

Mary Alice Monroe is the New York Times bestselling author of 30 books for adults and children. Her newest title, Where the Rivers Merge, is a USA Today bestseller and a top selection among book clubs. It’s her first historical novel, and it’s a duology. The release date for part two, titled The Rivers End, is coming soon.

Mary Alice has earned numerous accolades and awards including induction into the South Carolina Academy of Authors’ Hall of Fame; South Carolina Center for the Book Award for Writing; the South Carolina Award for Literary Excellence; the SW Florida Author of Distinction Award; the RT Lifetime Achievement Award; the International Book Award for Green Fiction; the Henry Bergh Award for Children’s Fiction; and her novel A Lowcountry Christmas won the prestigious Southern Prize for Fiction. Mary Alice is also the co-founder of the popular weekly web show and podcast Friends & Fiction.

The Beach House is a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie, starring Andie McDowell. Several of her novels are optioned for film.

Mary Alice has championed the fragility of the earth’s wild habitat. The coastal southern landscape in particular is a strong and important focus of many of her novels. For her writing, Monroe immerses herself in academic research, works with wildlife experts, and does hands-on volunteering with animals, then crafts captivating stories that identify important parallels between nature and human nature. Sea turtles, bottlenose dolphins, monarch butterflies, raptors, and shorebirds are among the species she has worked with and woven into her novels.

Mary Alice is also an active conservationist and serves on several boards including the South Carolina Aquarium board emeritus, the Pat Conroy Literary Center Honorary Board, and the Leatherback Trust, for which she received the Leatherback Trust Lifetime Achievement Award in 2022.

Mary Alice was born and raised in Evanston, Illinois. She lives along the South Carolina coast just outside of Charleston and considers the Lowcountry home. When she’s not writing a novel, she’s with her family or busy working with wildlife somewhere in the world.

About Where the Rivers Merge: 

From the New York Times bestselling author, the first of two epic and triumphant novels celebrating one intrepid woman's life across multiple generations in the American South.

1908: The Lowcountry of South Carolina is at the cusp of change. Mayfield, the grand estate held for generations by the Rivers family, is the treasured home of young Eliza. A free spirit, she refuses to be confined by societal norms and spends her days exploring the vast property, observing wildlife, and riding horses. But the Great War, coastal storms, and family turmoil bring unexpected challenges to Eliza, putting her on a collision course with the patriarchal traditions of a bygone era.

1988: At 88, Eliza is the scion of the Rivers/DeLancey family. She’s fought a lifetime to save her beloved Mayfield and is too independent and committed to quietly retire and leave the fate of the estate to her greedy son. She must make decisions that will assure the future of the land and her family—or watch them both be split apart. 

Set against the evocative landscape of the twentieth-century Lowcountry, Where the Rivers Merge is a dramatic and sweeping multigenerational family story of unyielding love, lessons learned, profound sacrifices, and the indomitable spirit of a woman determined to persevere in the face of change in order to protect her family legacy and the land she loves.