Emory University Libraries hosted a celebration of the 30th anniversary of the publication of Flannery O’Connor’s letters in Sally Fitzgerald’s book The Habit of Being yesterday.

The series of events, titled “Habits of Being: Flannery O’Connor and Sally Fitzgerald,” included a panel discussion, a lecture by Washington Post book critic Jonathan Yardley and a reading from O’Connor’s letters by Atlanta actress Brenda Bynum.

The Habitat of Being is a collection of correspondences that O’Connor, a Southern author, had with writers, theologians, thinkers and poets.

According to Rosemary M. Magee, vice president and secretary of the University, Fitzgerald regularly visited Emory’s campus during the 1980s and 1990s as a research scholar. Magee said Fitzgerald’s presence on campus, in addition to the fact the Woodruff Library’s Manuscript, Archives and Rare Book Library (MARBL) acquired a collection of Fitzgerald’s papers about O’Connor last year, influenced the University’s decision to host yesterday’s events.

“We hope [people] will gain a real appreciation for the importance of the letters as living documents; for the unique literary contributions of Flannery O’Connor; and for the diligent and creative scholarship of Sally Fitzgerald,” Magee said.

The panel discussion, which took place in the Woodruff Library, featured William Sessions, a retired Georgia State University professor and a friend of O’Connor who is currently writing a biography about O’Connor; Bruce Gentry, editor of the Flannery O’Connor Review and a member of the Georgia College & State University faculty; Elizabeth Chase, a Woodruff Library Fellow; and Lorraine Murray, author of The Abbess of Andalusia: Flannery O’Connor’s Spiritual Journey and public services assistant in the Pitts Theology Library.

Magee began the panel discussion by saying, “It is with deep gratitude that we celebrate Fitzgerald’s life today.”

Gentry said Fitzgerald accurately portrayed how important Catholicism was to O’Connor.

Gentry said, however, he did not always feel O’Connor should have focused so heavily on religion.

“Sometimes O’Connor the theologian needs to step aside for O’Connor the artist,” Gentry said.

For Murray, religion influenced her writing, just as it did O’Connor’s, she said.

“She became a spiritual director for me,” Murray said.

Murray said Fitzgerald influenced her writing of The Abbess of Andalusia: Flannery O’Connor’s Spiritual Journey.

“The Habit of Being has changed my life, and I regret not meeting Sally,” Murray said. “I feel forever indebted to her for the time she poured into this book.”

Chase next showed a slideshow of O’Connor’s letters.

“The letters will help us comprehend O’Connor’s work,” Chase said of the collection of letters in MARBL.

Following the slideshow, Session recounted the day when Fitzgerald told him she planned to compile a series of O’Connor’s letters.

He then displayed photographs of O’Connor, one of which he was in.

“This is a picture very few people have ever seen, almost no one,” Session said of one of the photographs of O’Connor.

The panel discussion concluded with a question-and-answer session.

After the discussion, Yardley gave his speech and Bynum performed her dramatic reading of O’Connor’s letters.

All of yesterday’s events to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the publication of The Habit of Being were co-sponsored by the Creativity, Arts and Innovation Initiative of the Strategic Plan, the Woodruff Library, the English department and the Hightower Fund of Emory College.

“I hope students in particular will take advantage of the grand and engaging literary collections right here on this campus which are open to all scholars, students and visitors,” Magee said.

— Contact Molly Davis.