Flannery Abroad in London (June 2025)

My proposal for Flannery O’Connor’s Centenary at Fordham University London was accepted! My paper compares the fiction of Charles Williams to O’Connor’s novels and short stories.

Why Charles Williams?
Both O’Connor and Williams function as “catholics” in a broadly protestant culture. Charles Williams (1886–1945), an Anglo-Catholic Anglican, shared his literary identity with the more well-known Inklings like C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, but he is often overlooked due to the dark themes that pervade his work.

Flannery Abroad Conference London

Official website link for Registration: https://www.fordham.edu/academics/centers-and-institutes/curran-center-for-american-catholic-studies/events-and-series/flannery-abroad/

The conference “Flannery Abroad” will take place June 5-7, 2025, on the Fordham’s campus in London, UK, and is sponsored by the Curran Center for American Catholic Studies, Loyola Chicago’s Hank Center, Georgetown University, and The Flannery O’Connor Trust.

Location: Fordham University London
2 Eyre St Hill, London
EC1R 5ET, United Kingdom
Date: June 5-7, 2025


Flannery O’Connor famously didn’t like to travel:

“We went to Europe and I lived through it but my capacity for staying at home has now been perfected, sealed & is going to last me the rest of my life.”

“Nonetheless, in the tradition of the previous International Flannery O’Connor Conferences, we are taking O’Connor abroad in honor of her 100th birthday and to celebrate O’Connor’s influence on European writers, thinkers, and artists.”

Steve Macias
Reformed Episcopal Priest. Rector at Saint Paul’s & Headmaster at Canterbury School.