Flannery at 100
Celebrating the 100th birthday of Flannery O'Connor in 2025 is a significant and exciting opportunity for Georgia College & State University (GCSU).
Activities happening around Campus
Ina Dillard Russell Library
The Ina Dillard Russell Library continues to display letters and artifacts from O’Connor’s life in the Rare Books Room.
Historic Museums
Historic Museums continues to showcase the life of O’Connor at Andalusia Farm. The Interpretive Center at Andalusia will continue to feature rotating exhibitions of the historic property. You can schedule a tour by visiting the link below.
The Cline House
The Cline House will undergo renovations which will allow for public engagement within the historic home. The Cline House will become the new home of the GCSU Flannery O’Connor Institute for the Humanities.
The O'Connor Book Club
The O’Connor Book Club has individuals from all across the globe, including Japan, Italy, and Mexico. Engagement through technology will continue to reach diverse populations on a global scale.
Wildcat
Efforts are underway to bring Wildcat¸ the new film about O’Connor’s life in Milledgeville during her most prolific writing period to campus. The goal is to show the film to the student body with a question-and-answer period from Director Ethan Hawke and star Maya Hawke.
** Photo Used with Permission from Oscilloscope Laboratories
In addition to these ongoing events, several special events are planned to honor GCSU’s most beloved alumna. A full calendar is below.
October
| Date | Event | Time | Location | Details | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10/1 | Flannery O'Connor and Milledgeville: Collecting the Past | 3:30 p.m. | Old Governor's Mansion Education Building | |||
| 10/3 | Zoom Talk on "Why do the Heathen Rage" | 7:00 p.m. | Online | Sponsored by The Flannery O'Connor Institute for the Humanities | ||
| 10/9 | Wildcat Screening | 6:00 p.m. | Russell Auditorium | Viewing of Wildcat for students. | ||
| 10/17 | Flannery O'Connor Book Club | 2:00 p.m. | Writer's Museum in Eatonton, GA | Meet to discuss Jessica Hooten Wilson’s new book, Flannery O’Connor’s Why Do the Heathen Rage?: A Behind the Scenes Look at a Work in Progress. | ||
| 10/17 | Flannery O'Connor Book Club | 7:00 p.m. | Online (via Zoom) | Meet to discuss Jessica Hooten Wilson’s new book, Flannery O’Connor’s Why Do the Heathen Rage?: A Behind the Scenes Look at a Work in Progress. |
November
| Date | Event | Time | Location | Details | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11/5 | Zoom Talk on "Flannery O'Connor goes to the Grammy's" | 7:00 p.m. | Online | Straight examines O'Connor's influence on the art and vision of multiple Grammy Award winners 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. Miller presents about O'Connor's punk sensibility. | ||
| 11/7 | Book Reading: Katheryn Laborde, Xavier University | 7:00 p.m. | Andalusia Farm/Zoom | Author Katheryn Labode will be discussing her book about the research she did following entries in Flannery's day planner when she was in New York. | ||
| 11/12 | Writing Flannery O'Connor for Kids (Children's Book Presentation) | 2:00 p.m. | Pat Peterson Museum Education Room (Russell Library) | This presentation will give a summation of how select authors created their books for young readers and how those books can be used in the classroom to support literacy instruction | ||
| 11/14 | Scholar in Residence Lecture, Farrell O'Gorman | Pat Peterson Museum Education Room (Russell Library) | "Cormac McCarthy and Flannery O'Connor: Links, Likeness, Legacy." | |||
| 11/21 | Flannery O'Connor Book Club | 2:00 p.m. | Writer's Museum in Eatonton, GA | Read and discuss two picture books based on O’Connor’s life: Acree Graham Macam and Natalie Nelson’s The King of the Birds and Amy Alznauer’s The Strange Birds of Flannery O’Connor. | ||
| 11/21 | Flannery O'Connor Book Club | 7:00 p.m. | Online (via Zoom) | Read and discuss two picture books based on O’Connor’s life: Acree Graham Macam and Natalie Nelson’s The King of the Birds and Amy Alznauer’s The Strange Birds of Flannery O’Connor. |
December
| Date | Event | Time | Location | Details | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12/3 | Zoom Talk on “Driving While Black?: Mobility, Race, and Travel in ‘A Good Man Is Hard to Find,’ | 7:00 p.m. | Online | Driving While Black?: Mobility, Race, and Travel in ‘A Good Man Is Hard to Find,’” Katie Simon, Interim Director, the Flannery O’Connor Institute for the Humanities draws upon Evan Leavitt's recent research on Middle Georgia Black music as a forgotten context for O'Connor's story, a work that draws its title from an African-American blues tune. | ||
| 12/12 | Flannery O'Connor Book Club | 2:00 p.m. | Writer's Museum in Eatonton, GA | Join us to discuss Dear Regina by Monica Miller. Miller has collected O’Connor’s letters home during her years in the MFA Program in Writing at the University of Iowa. | ||
| 12/12 | Flannery O'Connor Book Club | 7:00 p.m. | Online (via Zoom) | Join us to discuss Dear Regina by Monica Miller. Miller has collected O’Connor’s letters home during her years in the MFA Program in Writing at the University of Iowa. | ||
| 12/13 -12/15 | The Nutcracker | Russell Auditorium | This year's Nutcracker will feature the "Dance of the Peacocks" in honor of Flannery. This specific dance is reflective of the Royal Theater's version popular in the UK. |
january 2025
| Date | Event | Time | Location | Details | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1/23 | Flannery O'Connor Book Club | 2:00 p.m. | Writer's Museum in Eatonton, GA | Join us to discuss Brad Gooch’s wildly acclaimed biography of O’Connor, Flannery: A Life of Flannery O'Connor (2009). Read the Prologue, and Chapters 1-3. | ||
| 1/23 | Flannery O'Connor Book Club | 7:00 p.m. | Online (via Zoom) | Join us to discuss Brad Gooch’s wildly acclaimed biography of O’Connor, Flannery: A Life of Flannery O'Connor (2009). Read the Prologue, and Chapters 1-3. |
February
| Date | Event | Time | Location | Details | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2/4 | Inaugural FOIH Southern Gothic Scholar-in-Residence Lecture | 5:00 p.m. | Pat Peterson Museum Education Room (Russell Library) | “Save the Rougarou! . . . and the Wetlands: Cajun Folk Horror and Environmental Activism in America’s Petroleum Sacrifice Zone” | ||
| 2/20 | Flannery O'Connor Book Club | 2:00 p.m. | Writer's Museum in Eatonton, GA | Join us to continue discussing Brad Gooch’s wildly acclaimed biography of O’Connor, Flannery: A Life of Flannery O'Connor (2009). Read chapters 4 and 5. | ||
| 2/20 | Book Reading: Jessica Hooten Wilson | Andalusia Farm | Jessica Hooten Wilson, author of Why Do the Heathen Rage (the unfinished novel by Flannery O’Connor) , will give a lecture and book signing. | |||
| 2/20 | Flannery O'Connor Book Club | 7:00 p.m. | Online (via Zoom) | Join us to continue discussing Brad Gooch’s wildly acclaimed biography of O’Connor, Flannery: A Life of Flannery O'Connor (2009). Read chapters 4 and 5. | ||
| 2/25 | Inaugural FOIH Southern Gothic Scholar-in-Residence Lecture | 5:00 p.m. | Pat Peterson Museum Education Room (Russell Library) | "Jesmyn Ward's Eco-Gothic." New work in-progres by the author of Gothic America: Narrative, History, and Nation (Columbia UP) and Selling Anti-Slavery: Abolition and Mass Media in Antebellum America (U of Penn Press). Goddu also designed and directed "The Sustainability Project" at Vanderbilt, a 3-year interdisciplinary initative to grow the University's environmental efforts. |
March
| Date | Event | Time | Location | Details | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3/4 | Flannery and Regina: The Andalusia Chronicles: Book Reading | 6:00 p.m. | Pat Peterson Museum Education Room (Russell Library) | Carol Shloss discusses her book-in-progress Flannery and Regina: The Andalusia Chronicles from 6-7pm. Shloss is the former acting Acting Professor of English at Stanford University, and is the author of Flannery O'Connor's Dark Comedies (LSU Press), along with award-winning books about the families of Ezra Pound and James Joyce. | ||
| 3/20 | Flannery O'Connor Book Club | 2:00 p.m. | Writer's Museum in Eatonton, GA | Join us to continue discussing Brad Gooch’s wildly acclaimed biography of O’Connor, Flannery: A Life of Flannery O'Connor (2009). Read chapters 8-10. | ||
| 3/20 | Flannery O'Connor Book Club | 7:00 p.m. | Online (via Zoom) | Join us to continue discussing Brad Gooch’s wildly acclaimed biography of O’Connor, Flannery: A Life of Flannery O'Connor (2009). Read chapters 8-10. | ||
| 3/25 | Flannery O'Connor's 100th Birthday Celebration | TBD | TBD | |||
| 3/25 | Book Reading: Ping Zhu | 6:00 p.m. | Andalusia Farm | Join as we the artist who did the illustrations for the book "The Strange Birds of Flannery O'Connor" reads a book at Andalusia Farm. |
April
| Date | Event | Time | Location | Details | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4/17 | Flannery O'Connor Book Club | 2:00 p.m. | Writer's Museum in Eatonton, GA | Join us to discuss O’Connor’s famous essay “Some Aspects of the Grotesque in Southern Fiction.” | ||
| 4/17 | Flannery O'Connor Book Club | 7:00 p.m. | Online (via Zoom) | Join us to discuss O’Connor’s famous essay “Some Aspects of the Grotesque in Southern Fiction.” |
May (Lupus Awareness month)
| Date | Event | Time | Location | Details | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5/15 | Flannery O'Connor Book Club | 2:00 p.m. | Writer's Museum in Eatonton, GA | Join us to discuss Flannery O’Connor’s Introduction to the Memoir of Mary Ann, about which O’Connor said “nobody will ever understand me unless they read this essay.” | ||
| 5/15 | Flannery O'Connor Book Club | 7:00 p.m. | Online (via Zoom) | Join us to discuss Flannery O’Connor’s Introduction to the Memoir of Mary Ann, about which O’Connor said “nobody will ever understand me unless they read this essay.” |