Release date: April 25, 2007
Contact: Elaine Justice at 404-727-0643 or elaine.justice@emory.edu

Emory to Unseal Flannery O'Connor Letters

On May 12, Emory University will make public the complete collection of letters from famed Southern writer Flannery O'Connor to Elizabeth "Betty" Hester -- an event that devoted fans and scholars of O'Connor have anticipated for two decades. Hester donated the letters to Emory in 1987, with the stipulation that they remain sealed for 20 years.

William Sessions, a leading O'Connor scholar who knew both the author and Hester, has referred to the documents as "probably the most important collection of letters in American literature in the latter part of the century."

Hester lived a reclusive life. She worked as a file clerk in an Atlanta credit bureau, but her real calling was esoteric reading and philosophy, as discussed in her voluminous correspondence with O'Connor.

"I think Betty Hester was the most important correspondent in Flannery O'Connor's life," said Steve Enniss, director of Emory's Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Library, where the letters are housed. "That's borne out in the sheer number of letters, written when O'Connor was at the height of her creativity. These letters help tell with great fullness the story of O'Connor's own life that is so intertwined with her stories."

Hester was an avid reader and keen intellectual. Her correspondence with O'Connor began with a fan letter she wrote to the author after "A Good Man is Hard to Find" was published in 1955, and continued until O'Connor's death in 1964.

In 1979, edited versions of 195 of the letters were published in "The Habit of Being: Letters of Flannery O'Connor," edited by Sally Fitzgerald, a mutual friend of the two women. But very few eyes have seen the complete collection of letters in their unedited form.

"This re-opens a whole conversation about O'Connor as a writer and as a person," said Rosemary Magee, Emory vice president and secretary and another long-time O'Connor scholar. "I'm anticipating that there will be many affirmations of what we already know, along with some revelations."

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Emory University is one of the nation's leading private research universities and a member of the Association of American Universities. Known for its demanding academics, outstanding undergraduate college of arts and sciences, highly ranked professional schools and state-of-the-art research facilities, Emory is ranked as one of the country's top 20 national universities by U.S. News & World Report. In addition to its nine schools, the university encompasses The Carter Center, Yerkes National Primate Research Center and Emory Healthcare, the state's largest and most comprehensive health care system.

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