Author photo from Gale Biography in Context
WHO: Mary Flannery O’Connor
WHAT: A Southern writer known for her short stories, novels, essays, and literary criticism. She was a devout Catholic who suffered from lupus.
WHEN: Born March 25, 1925; died of lupus on August 3, 1964
WHERE: Born in Savannah, Georgia; died in Milledgeville, Georgia
WHY SHE MATTERS: O’Connor has a fiction style that’s all her own. She blends the spiritual and the grotesque, the comic and the tragic, moments of grace and moments of violence. Her work still provokes passionate conversations and shocks with its surprising twists. Her nonfiction writing is full of humor, vulnerability, and spiritual insights.
MY FAVORITE O’CONNOR BOOKS:
WORDS TO REMEMBER:
LEARN MORE:
- “What Flannery O’Connor Taught Me About Chronic Illness” by Caroline McCoy @ Electric Literature
- “Flannery O’Connor on Why the Grotesque Appeals to Us, Plus a Rare Recording of Her Reading ‘A Good Man Is Hard to Find'” by Maria Popova @ Brain Pickings
- “Mystery and Manners: On Teaching Flannery O’Connor” by Nick Ripatrazone @ The Millions
- “Where to Start with Flannery O’Connor” by Nicholas Parker @ NYPL
- “33 Portraits of Flannery O’Connor” by Emily Temple @ Lit Hub
- “A Flannery O’Connor Reading List: Imagining Book Recommendations from a Life of Letters” by Jaime Fuller @ Lapham’s Quarterly
- Flannery O’Connor Timeline @ Georgia College
- Visit O’Connor’s Home @ Visit Milledgeville
