Author, Essayist. Savannah, Georgia born, Mary Flannery O’Connor was the daughter of real estate executive, Edward O’Connor and his socialite wife, Regina Cline. She was raised a Catholic in a Protestant world and would later use this experience for her work, “The Catholic Novelist in the Protestant South.” O’Connor’s father died when she was sixteen, and her mother took her back with her to the Cline’s family’s hometown of Milledgeville, Georgia. She lived with her mother and aunts while attending the Georgia State College for Women. O’Connor remained in Milledgeville until 1945, when she left for the State University of Iowa enrolling in a writer’s program headed by Paul Engle from which she received a Master’s degree. After that she lived for a time in a writer’s colony in upstate New York, New York City, and eventually Ridgefield, Conn after meeting Robert and Sally Fitzgerald who worked in the publishing industry and became life long friends. In 1950, she began exhibiting signs of the illness that had killed her father, Lupus. She moved back to Georgia to be with her mother, and they went to live on her family farm, Andulusia. From there, she would complete her first novel, “Wise Blood,” which would be published in 1952. Despite her illness, O’Connor would have a lucrative career in writing. She would write several works between 1950 and her death in 1964, some of which would be published posthumously. These works would receive several literary prizes and would became part of the canon of classic American Fiction studied today. Despite being stricken with Lupus she remained active up until the end. She traveled the country lecturing and giving readings of her work as well as participating in life in her hometown.

Author, Essayist. Savannah, Georgia born, Mary Flannery O’Connor was the daughter of real estate executive, Edward O’Connor and his socialite wife, Regina Cline. She was raised a Catholic in a Protestant world and would later use this experience for her work, “The Catholic Novelist in the Protestant South.” O’Connor’s father died when she was sixteen, and her mother took her back with her to the Cline’s family’s hometown of Milledgeville, Georgia. She lived with her mother and aunts while attending the Georgia State College for Women. O’Connor remained in Milledgeville until 1945, when she left for the State University of Iowa enrolling in a writer’s program headed by Paul Engle from which she received a Master’s degree. After that she lived for a time in a writer’s colony in upstate New York, New York City, and eventually Ridgefield, Conn after meeting Robert and Sally Fitzgerald who worked in the publishing industry and became life long friends. In 1950, she began exhibiting signs of the illness that had killed her father, Lupus. She moved back to Georgia to be with her mother, and they went to live on her family farm, Andulusia. From there, she would complete her first novel, “Wise Blood,” which would be published in 1952. Despite her illness, O’Connor would have a lucrative career in writing. She would write several works between 1950 and her death in 1964, some of which would be published posthumously. These works would receive several literary prizes and would became part of the canon of classic American Fiction studied today. Despite being stricken with Lupus she remained active up until the end. She traveled the country lecturing and giving readings of her work as well as participating in life in her hometown.

Bio by: Catharine