Flannery O’Connor conference attracts worldwide attention

The Flannery O’Connor conference brings scholars from around the world. The conference started April 13 in the Arts & Sciences Auditorium, and will end April 16.

The conference entitled “Startling Figures,” is a celebration of O’Connor’s life and works. Professors and scholars are traveling from all over the world to attend. The conference consists mostly of professors, but there is one student and three Georgia College alumni participating, according to Conference Director Bruce Gentry.

At the conference, scholars and professors will investigate new ways to read O’Connor’s works, her connections with other writers of her time and present time. Writers, scholars, artists and musicians will gather to debate and celebrate the life and works of O’Connor.

The conference will take place on campus and at Andalusia, O’Connor’s childhood home and where she completed all of her major writings.

“There are a lot of events going on during this conference, we are hosting a reception at Andalusia on Wednesday night,” Gentry said.

Several films based on O’Connor’s stories will be shown on April 15 at the campus Black Box Theatre. There is also a closing concert in Magnolia Ballroom, featuring Dave Perkins, a Georgia College alumni and rock musician.

“This is the biggest conference that I have ever been involved in,” Gentry said.

There are 150 participants coming from outside of the university system, with three of those scholars traveling from other countries. One scholar is coming from Canada and the others are traveling from Spain and Ireland. In the past, the conference has attracted people from as far as Japan.

“I’m not trying to recruit people,” Gentry said. “They are just that interested.”

Megan Hunt, a student from Kings College in London, England, attended the conference. Hunt is studying American literature and culture, and is studying in the U.S. for six months.

“I was in the right place at the right time, and this conference fits in perfectly with my field of study,” Hunt said.

Senior English major Bethany Deskins also attended the conference to satisfy a requirement for several of her classes.

“I was not very familiar with O’Connor’s work until I came to the conference, but now I’m sure I will read more of her work,” Deskins said. “I found the research very interesting.”

During the conference, Box Office Books and Andalusia will be selling O’Connor merchandise. Room 105 will be set up in Chappell Hall selling books about O’Connor’s work.

O’Connor is one of Georgia College’s most famous graduates, receiving her bachelor’s degree in 1945, when the university was then Georgia State College for Women. Her family’s donation of the world’s largest known collection of O’Connor-related materials and resources has made Georgia College known throughout the world.

This conference is part of the university’s ongoing tribute to O’Connor’s artistic genius. Georgia College has hosted conferences in the past on O’Connor and her work, the most recent being in 2008.