"Flannery O'Connor in the Age of Terrorism" is a three-day conference at Grand Valley State University's DeVos Center on the Pew Grand Rapids Campus, October 5-7. Cost of the full program, which includes five meals and breakout sessions with 80 national and international speakers, is $100.
The following free events beginning at 5 p.m., on Thursday, October 5, are open to the public:
- an hors d'oeuvres reception
- GVSU vocalist Jason Coffey performing "Tantum Ergo"
- the GVSU Gospel Choir performing music found in O'Connor stories
- performance art by Judy Yordon, a distinguished professor of performance studies at Ball State University
- talk by Robert Donahoo, the incoming president of the Flannery O'Connor Society
- Anthony Di Renzo of Ithaca University speaking on religious violence and terror in the Middle Ages and today.
The conference grew out of a Major Authors course I taught last summer as part of our new Master of Arts in English program, said conference organizer Avis Hewitt, associate professor of English at Grand Valley. The conference is timely because O'Connor's work speaks to the efficacy of transcendent grace in our confrontations with the ongoing palpable fear that marks contemporary life.
For more information and a complete schedule visit www.gvsu.edu/oconnor.
Media may contact Avis Hewitt at (616) 331-3244 or [email protected]
