The conference “Remembering Flannery O’Connor 100 Years after Her Birthday: Transnational, Intersectional, and Multidisciplinary Approaches” was a two-day academic event to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of the esteemed American writer Flannery O’Connor (1925-1964). The Nicholaus Copernicus University Department of American Literature and Literary Translation organized it as part of its “Culture & Space” conference series on March 25-26 in Torun.
The plenary lecture entitled “Flannery O’Connor: A Life in Letters” was delivered by Prof. Christine Flanagan of St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia. Prof. Flanagan, who edited the letters of O’Connor and her mentor Caroline Gordon, also moderated the thematic panel “Alternative Biographies: Identity and Invisibility in the Life of Flannery O’Connor,” which included prominent American experts on O’Connor’s work. Some of them were present in Torun, while others joined from the writer’s home in Milledgeville, Georgia, where her 100th birthday was also celebrated that day.
The conference featured 27 papers presented by scholars from the US, Canada, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Hungary, Turkey, as well as Poland, including a panel by Professor William Walsh and Reinhardt University students Lauren Dose and Olivia Ruzicka.
Presenting the latest archival research, the panelists discussed the historical events and characters that inspired O’Connor. There was a Polish theme of the Matysiak family, war refugees from Poland, who are characters in the famous short story “The Displaced Person.” One of the panels dealt with the use of O’Connor’s stories in didactics. There were screenings of two films: the feature Wildcat (2023) and the documentary Flannery (2021).
The conference was organized by the Nicholaus Copernicus University Department of American Literature and Literary Translation, headed by Professor Miroslawa Buchholtz – a member of the Alumni Association (Fulbright, 1990-91).
The Alumni Association was a patron of the two-day event.
Photos: Jaroslaw Hetman.
