Fall semester is in full swing, and we have an ambitious schedule of events leading up to O'Connor's centennial celebration. Mark your calendars for the week of March 25, 2025, as we are planning a week-long gala celebration, with details forthcoming in our next newsletter. And come join us for our rich offering of November lectures, workshops, and book club.

We are saddened by the untimely passing of our friend Thomas Haddox. We hardly knew that his October zoom talk would be the last time we saw him. We join his family, colleagues, students, and friends in mourning his life and celebrating his memory, and his many contributions to O'Connor scholarship. It's a reminder, as is the fall season, to treasure one another while we can.

Dr. Katie Simon

Interim Executive Director

Flannery O'Connor Institute for the Humanities

Join us for Guest speakers Irwin H. Streight and Monica Miller. Streight’s recent book Flannery O’Connor Goes to the Grammys examines O'Connor's influence on the art and vision of multiple Grammy Award winners such as Bruce Springsteen, Lucinda Williams, R.E.M., and U2. along with celebrated songwriters Nick Cave, PJ Harvey, Sufjan Stevens, Mary Gauthier, Tom Waits, and others. Monica Miller, from Middle Georgia State University, presents her talk entitled “’It was Punk’: Reconsidering Rock and Roll Flannery O’Connor” Sign up online to receive the Zoom link.

These podcasting setups are the same models used in Baldwin County Schools and with educational partners during the Writing for Success grant. Using these materials, students created their own podcasts which were edited and made available on the O’Connor Institute YouTube page. The bundles include: one Zoom Podtrak P8 Podcast Recorder, six months of Buzzsprout premium podcast hosting, four Shure microphones, four table-top boom arms, four desktop reflection filters, four sets of headphones, two carrying cases, and 10 SD cards, valued at over $1,700.

Join scholar-in-residence Dr. Farrell O'Gorman for a talk on how Cormac McCarthy (1933-2023), one of the most acclaimed American novelists of the last fifty years, is inextricably linked to Flannery O’Connor. McCarthy repeatedly praised her in the early years of his career–most substantially in his correspondence with Robert Coles, an influential Harvard child psychiatrist who wrote extensively on O’Connor while also acting as a patron to McCarthy. In his fiction, McCarthy like O’Connor continually addressed certain recurrent philosophical and religious questions (e.g., regarding gnosticism) that are essential to understanding the two of them as not only Southern Gothic but American Gothic authors. Finally, their legacies have frequently overlapped in critically acclaimed films from the 1970s to the present, perhaps most complexly in the Oscar-winning Coen brothers film No Country for Old Men (2007).

This event will take place on Thursday, Nov. 14 at 6:00 p.m. in the Museum Education Room of the GCSU Library. Refreshments will be served.

To join us for the online book club at 7:00 p.m. via Zoom, please register online.

Collecting the Past, in collaboration with the Ina Dillard Russell Library, will be hosting a podcasting workshop session to teach students and the community ways in which they can begin their own projects. This workshop will be a great introduction to the basics of bringing a podcast to life. This is open to students, staff and the community

• November 12, 5:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. @ Museum Education Room
  

Dive into the Art of Oral History. Join us for an engaging Oral History Workshop where you will learn how to capture and share meaningful stories and memories. Perfect for history enthusiasts and storytelling lovers alike, this workshop offers practical tips and valuable insights to help you preserve the past. Take advantage of this opportunity to enrich your skills and connect with fellow story enthusiasts. This workshop will be led by Dr. Stephanie Opperman, professor of history at Georgia College and co-program director for the Collecting the Past grant.

• December 4, 5 – 6 p.m. @ Mary Vinson Memorial Library

Tom was an instructor in the 2023 Summer Institute, a presenter at the 2024 conference, and recently one of our guest speakers for our Zoom Talk series. We will miss his generous spirit and wealth of knowledge on literature.

To reserve your copy, please mail a check or money order to

Bruce Gentry, Editor

Flannery O'Connor Review

English Dept., Campus Box 44

Georgia College

410 W. Greene St.

Milledgeville, GA 31061