Flannery O’Connor Book Club
Sponsored by the Andalusia Institute, Georgia Writers Museum, and Allied Arts of Milledgeville.
Discussion Leader
Dr. Bruce Gentry
Professor of English, Georgia College
Dr. Gentry, Editor of the Flannery O’Connor Review, received GC’s Excellence in Scholarship award in 2013. He is the author of Flannery O’Connor’s Religion of the Grotesque, editor of The Cartoons of Flannery O’Connor at Georgia College, and co-editor of the oral history At Home with Flannery O’Connor. Gentry twice served as co-director for NEH Summer Institutes on O’Connor. Gentry has also hosted four O’Connor conferences in Milledgeville. Other publications by Gentry include Conversations with Raymond Carver and articles on Doctorow, Roth, and Carver in Contemporary Literature, South Atlantic Review, The CEA Critic, and South Carolina Review.
Aug. 27
2:00-3:00 PM, in-person at Georgia Writers Museum
Join us for a conversation with Dr. Bruce Gentry about “Greenleaf” by Flannery O’Connor.
Sept. 17
2:00-3:00 PM, in-person at Georgia Writers Museum
Join us for a conversation with Dr. Bruce Gentry about “A View of the Woods” by Flannery O’Connor.
Oct. 22
2:00-3:00 PM, in-person at Georgia Writers Museum
Join us for a conversation with Dr. Bruce Gentry about Flannery and Regina: The Andalusia Chronicles by Carol Loeb Shloss (through the end of Flannery O’Connor’s life, a few pages into Chapter 7).
Nov. 19
2:00-3:00 PM, in-person at Georgia Writers Museum
Join us for a conversation with Dr. Bruce Gentry about Flannery and Regina: The Andalusia Chronicles by Carol Loeb Shloss (rest of the book).
Past Reads
Spring 2026
“Everything That Rises Must Converge” by Flannery O’Connor
The Violent Bear It Away by Flannery O’Connor
Alice Walker’s “Convergence” (her response to O’Connor’s “Everything That Rises Must Converge”)
Winter 2026
Jan. Wise Blood by Flannery O’Connor
Feb. Wise Blood (cont.) by Flannery O’Connor
Fall 2025
Aug. “Old Red” by Caroline Gordon and “The Geranium” by Flannery O’Connor
Sept. Paris Trout by Pete Dexter and “The Partridge Festival” by Flannery O’Connor
Oct. “Old Mr. Marblehall” by Eudora Welty and “A Late Encounter with the Enemy” by Flannery O’Connor
Nov. The Ballad of the Sad Cafe by Carson McCullers and “A Circle in the Fire” by Flannery O’Connor
Spring 2025
Mar. 20 Flannery: A Life of Flannery O’Connor by Brad Gooch
Apr. 17 “Some Aspects of the Grotesque in Southern Fiction” by Flannery O’Connor
May 15 Memoir of Mary Ann by Flannery O’Connor
Winter/Spring 2024
Jan. 25 The Habit of Being (1958-59) by Flannery O’Connor
Feb. 15 The Habit of Being (1960) by Flannery O’Connor
Mar. 21 The Habit of Being (1961-62) by Flannery O’Connor
Winter/Spring 2023
Jan. 19th A Circle in the Fire by Flannery O’Connor
Feb. 16th The Life You Save May Be Your Own by Flannery O’Connor
Mar. 23rd Good Country People by Flannery O’Connor
Apr. 20th Judgment Day by Flannery O’Connor
Winter/Spring 2022
Jan. 20th The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
Feb. 17th In Love and Trouble: “Really, Doesn’t Crime Pay?” and “Strong Horse Tea” by Alice Walker
Mar. 24th A Prayer Journal by Flannery O’Connor
Apr. 21st The Year the Lights Came On by Terry Kay
May 19th Appalachee Red by Raymond Andrews
Fall 2021
Aug. 19th Everyday Use by Alice Walker
Sept. 16th The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Oct. 21st Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
Nov. 18th Reflections in a Golden Eye by Carson McCullers
Winter/Spring 2021
Jan. 21st A Good Man is Hard to Find
Feb. 18th A View of the Woods
Mar. 18th Greenleaf
Apr. 15th The Comforts of Home
May 20th Everything That Rises Must Converge
Fall 2020
Aug. 20th The River
Sep. 17th The Life You Save May Be Your Own
Oct. 15th A Temple of the Holy Ghost
Nov. 19th A Circle of Fire
Please Note
- Flannery’s complete short story collection is available for purchase at Georgia Writers Museum.
- Sylvia’s Coffee Shop at Georgia Writers Museum is OPEN!
