During this retreat devoted to the work of Flannery O’Connor, we will consider the challenges she faced in making her pilgrimage as a Christian and as a writer; we will examine passages from her stories, essays, journals, and letters that bear the mark of her extraordinary imagination, her crackling intelligence, and her saving humor; and we will consider the ways in which her voice speaks to us, inspires us, and helps guide us along our own pilgrimages, especially during this moment of great challenge and uncertainty. The retreat offers an invitation to walk alongside one of the most compelling companions we might choose to accompany us on the journey of life.

Schedule:
Session 1: “From the House to the Chicken Yard : No Ordinary Pilgrimage,” presentation on O’Connor’s life & work featuring excerpts from her letters and journals, followed by Q&A
Session 2: “‘A Temple of the Holy Ghost’ & ‘Revelation’ : The Crooked Path to Grace,” presentation & discussion followed by Q&A
Session 3: “Flannery’s Andalusian Hours: Finding The Province of Joy,” presentation & poetry reading, followed by Q&A

Bio:
Angela Alaimo O’Donnell, PhD is a professor, poet, and writer at Fordham University in New York City and serves as Associate Director of Fordham’s Curran Center for American Catholic Studies. Her publications include two chapbooks and six collections of poems, Saint Sinatra (2011), Moving House (2009), Waking My Mother (2013), Lovers’ Almanac (2015), Still Pilgrim (2017), and, most recently, Andalusian Hours (2020), a collection of 101 poems that channel the voice of Flannery O’Connor.
In addition, O’Donnell has published a prize-winning memoir, Mortal Blessings (2014), a book of hours based on the prayer life of Flannery O’Connor, The Province of Joy (2012), and her biography Flannery O’Connor: Fiction Fired by Faith (2015) was awarded first prize for excellence in publishing from The Association of Catholic Publishers. Her new critical book on Flannery O’Connor, Radical Ambivalence: Race in Flannery O’Connor has just been published by Fordham University Press.