In this episode, we discuss the life and work of Flannery O’Connor. Born in Georgia in 1925, O’Connor wrote prolifically before her early death at age 39 due to lupus. She routinely wrote every morning until noon, and spent her afternoons and evenings tending to her domestic birds or entertaining visitors. Informed by the community surrounding her Georgia hometown and her Catholic faith, O’Connor’s short fiction is rich with complex antiheroes and ironic moral turns. “I write,” she said, “because I don’t know what I think until I read what I say.”
O’Connor will be featured in the American Writers Museum’s forthcoming exhibit and programming initiative American Prophets: Writers, Religion, and Culture, which explores the complex relationship between spiritual practices and writing. Opening November 2025, along with interactive displays, this immersive exhibit will showcase personal items belong to prominent writers, such as O’Connor’s rosary and holy water bottle. Be sure to subscribe to our podcasts and emails to stay updated on the latest announcements about American Prophets!
O’Connor wrote two novels: Wise Blood and The Violent Bear It Away, and two short story collections: A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Everything That Rises Must Converge. Her Complete Stories, published posthumously in 1972, won the National Book Award that year. In 1988 the Library of America published her Collected Works; she was the first postwar writer to be so honored. She lived most of her adult life on her family’s ancestral farm, Andalusia, outside Milledgeville, Georgia.
For this episode, we are joined by Cassie Munnell, the Curator at Andalusia, the Home of Flannery O’Connor. You can learn more about Cassie and their work in the episode description below.
Cassie is interviewed by Nate King, Content & Exhibits Manager at the American Writers Museum. This conversation originally took place March 21, 2025 and was recorded over Zoom.
CASSIE MUNNELL serves as the Curator for Andalusia the Home of Flannery O’Connor. She is originally from Marietta, GA. She graduated with her Bachelors of Arts in History with a minor in English Literature from Agnes Scott College in 2018. She graduated with her Masters in Museum Science and Heritage Management with a focus in Museum Science from Texas Tech University in 2020. She has previously interned at the Root House Museum and Gardens and George Ranch Historical Park, as well as having been employed by the Dallas Museum of Art and Dallas Heritage Village.