Mary Flannery's 84th birthday!

With some in costume and others as they are, friends and supporters of Flannery's Childhood Home gathered on the evening of March 25th to celebrate her birthday. 84 years ago, just a few blocks to the south at St. Joseph's Hospital, Mary Flannery O'Connor entered the world. Little did anyone guess just what an effect this writer-to-be would have on readers around the world. The guests were treated to recipes found in the Sanford House Cookbook: carrot sandwiches, smoked oyster roll and turtle cake were just a few of the delights enjoyed.

Meet Our Docents

Mary Lawrence Kennickell was born and raised in Milledgeville, GA. Her father was a dentist and had very important patients--the O'Connors. Mary Lawrence fondly remembers time spent talking to Flannery on Sunday afternoons. She arrived in Savannah in 1980 and is an artist specializing in graphite. She began leading tours here at the Home in 2007 following the historical restoration. Her favorite room to show is Flannery's bedroom.

Join Us for O'Connor's Birthday on March 25th!

The Flannery O'Connor Childhood Home, located at 207 E. Charlton Street on Lafayette Square, will host a special celebration in honor of Flannery O'Connor's birthday on Wednesday, March 25 from 5:30 to 8 p.m.

This event is open to the public ($25 suggested donation). Guests are encouraged to dress up as their favorite Flannery O'Connor literary character and to enjoy drinks and hearty 1950's inspired hors d'oeuvres.

Please call 912-233-6014 or email billdawers@comcast.net with questions.

Hope some of you can make it!

Spring Lecture Series - Dr. Eddy Dupuy

The Childhood Home parlor on March 16th was was the setting for a discussion on Flannery O'Connor and Walker Percy led by Dr. Eddie Dupuy, seen here with Bill Dawers, the Board's President. Dr. Dupuy spoke on the similarities and differences of the two authors to a full house. Currently Dr. Dupuy is the Dean of Graduate Studies at Savannah College of Art and Design.

Be sure to join us here at 3 p.m. on April 5th when Joni Saxon-Giusti and Christian Kruse will speak on the Childhood Home's Bruckheimer Library.

Meet Our Docents

Gillian Brown has been involved with the Childhood Home before it was opened to the public. She is the widow of Dr. Hugh Brown, one of the original founders of the Foundation that purchased the Home in 1989. She remembers how everyone worried in those days about the mortgage, which has since been retired. One of her favorite stories to share with our visitors is the gathering of neighborhood children on Saturday mornings around the O'Connor radio so, along with Flannery, they could listen to the CBS radio program, 'Let's Pretend.' She also enjoys sharing the Home with the wide variety of guests who visit.

Meet Our Docents

Jane Thimme wears a number of hats here at the Home. She started as a docent in 2000. The next year she became the Newsletter's editor. She joined the Board of Directors in 2006. Her favorite part of the house to show is the parents' bedroom on the second floor. She invites our guests to look out the large, lace-curtained windows so they can see what the O'Connors saw each morning and evening.

Reviews of Brad Gooch's "Flannery: A Life of Flannery O'Connor"

I'll post some thoughts here soon about the book and about the wave of interest it has received, but here for now are links to various reviews that have already appeared. Some are fascinating essays about O'Connor in their own right:
The Associated Press
Janet Maslin in the NYT
Joy Williams from the cover of the NYT Book Review
Buffalo News
Creative Loafing Atlanta
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Cleveland Plain Dealer
The Washington Post
Austin American-Statesman
Chicago Tribune
Metro Spirit, Augusta, Ga.
Brad Gooch interview in Connect Savannah
Washington Times
LA Times
The Economist
Terry Teachout in Commentary
Entertainment Weekly (!!)
Salon

The Boston Globe

St. Petersburg Times

Newsday

Houston Chronicle

Letters to NYT re Joy Williams's "review"

National Review

Letter from Joan Acocella re Joy Williams's NYT review

Joyce Carol Oates in the New York Review of Books

America, The National Catholic Weekly

Georgia Bulletin, The Newspaper of the Diocese of Atlanta

National Post (Canada)

NPR

McClatchy Newspapers

Weekly Standard (requires subscription but first few paragraphs are available online)

Mini-review in Times Online (UK)

Telegraph (UK)

The New Republic

Photos from Brad Gooch's launch of "Flannery: A Life of Flannery O'Connor"

About 300 people showed up at Trinity United Methodist Church on Feb. 26 to hear Brad Gooch speak about his acclaimed new biography of O'Connor, and more than 200 joined us immediately after for a reception at the Telfair Academy of Arts & Sciences. We sold more than 100 books that night.

Thanks to Cindy Vaughn Sinclair for taking these photos for us.