Mary Flannery O’Connor was born in 1925, in Savannah, Georgia. She is well-known for the “Southern Gothic” writing style present in her many novels, short stories, and essays. O’Connor wrote 2 novels, 31 short stories, and numerous editorial columns, before her untimely death at 39 years old. She succumbed to lupus, the same disease that took her father’s life.

In 1937, her father received a diagnosis of lupus, a deadly disease at the time. The worsening of his condition forced the family to leave Savannah and settle in Milledgeville, Georgia, at her mother’s family home. Following his death in 1941, the family made the decision to stay in Milledgeville.

O’Connor later attended Georgia State College for Women (now known as Georgia College & State University), where she served as editor of The Corinthian, GSCW’s college literary magazine, and as unofficial campus cartoonist. O’Connor drew cartoons for nearly every issue of The Corinthian; The Colonnade, the campus newspaper; for the college yearbook; as well as for the walls of the student lounge.

After graduation, she received a journalism scholarship to the State University of Iowa in Iowa City. Shortly after arriving, she changed her major to creative writing and was accepted into the Iowa Writers Workshop.

Following the completion of her MFA in 1947, O’Connor won the Rinehart-Iowa Fiction Award for a first novel (for her submission of a portion of Wise Blood) and was accepted at Yaddo, an artists’ retreat in Saratoga Springs, New York. There she continued to work on the novel.

In 1951, at 26 years old, she was diagnosed with lupus—the same disease that had taken her father years prior. With this diagnosis, O’Connor to moved to Andalusia, the 500+ acre farm at the edge of Milledgeville that her mother had inherited. Rather than being discouraged by this diagnosis, O’Connor continued to focus on her writing and faith.

She committed to a rigorous daily routine, sitting at her desk every morning following mass to write. This resulted in multiple bodies of work: 2 novels, Wise Blood and The Violent Bear It Away, and 31 short stories, including the renowned “A Good Man Is Hard to Find.”

Flannery O’Connor passed away in 1964 at only 39 years old due to complications with lupus. Despite her life and career being cut short, she remains a highly regarded literary figure.