Growing up in a small town in Arkansas, Garrard Conley dealt with strict social codes on what it meant to be man and a Christian. He was outed as gay to his parents at the age of 19.
His parents decided to send Conley to Love in Action, an ex-gay camp that aims to "cure" people of their homosexuality. Conley's new memoir "Boy Erased" (Penguin Random House/2016) reflects on his time at Love in Action and how he came to embody his identity as a gay man.
Host Frank Stasio talks with Conley about the book and his upbringing in the South. Conley reads at 7 p.m. Friday, May 20 at Scuppernong Books in Greensboro, at 3 p.m. Saturday, May 21 at Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill and at 3 p.m. on Sunday, May 22 at Malaprop's Bookstore in Asheville.