Angela Alaimo O’Donnell

PhD, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, English Language & Literature
M.A., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, English Language & Literature
B.A., The Pennsylvania State University

O'Donnell's areas of interest are American Catholic writers (with special emphasis on Flannery O'Connor), contemporary poetry and literature, women's poetry, and religion and literature. She is founding editor of the series published in partnership with Fordham University Press, Studies in the Catholic Imagination: The Flannery O'Connor Trust Series. 

In addition to her scholarship, O'Donnell writes poetry and creative non-fiction. She has published approximately 300 poems in a variety of journals. Her work has received awards from the Catholic Press Association and has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, the Best of the Web Award, the Christianity & Literature Book of the Year Award, and the Arlin G. Meyer Prize in Imaginative Writing. O'Donnell is a former columnist and current contributing writer at America magazine.

Radical Ambivalence: Race in Flannery O'Connor
Fordham University Press (2020)

Andalusian Hours: Poems from the Porch of Flannery O'Connor
Paraclete Press (2020)

Still Pilgrim: Poems
Paraclete Press (2017)

Fiction Fired by Faith: The Life & Work of Flannery O'Connor
Liturgical Press (May 2015)

Lovers' Almanac: Poems
Wipf & Stock Press (March 2015)

Mortal Blessings: A Sacramental Farewell
Ave Maria Press (Sept 2014)

Waking My Mother: Poems
Word Press (Sept 2013)

Saint Sinatra & Other Poems
Word Press (May 2011)

Moving House: Poems
Word Press (Oct 2009)

The Province of Joy: Praying With Flannery O'Connor
Paraclete Press (March 2012)

Waiting for Ecstasy: A Chapbook of Poems
Franciscan University Press (April 2009)

Mine: A Chapbook of Poems
Finishing Line Press (August 2007)

"The Moment in Race Relations That Keeps Repeating Itself." Essay in Church Life Journal (May 12, 2020).

"Has Literature Regained Its Faith?" Essay in Church Life Journal (October 2, 2019).

"The Catholic Art of Frida Kahlo." Article in America (April 19, 2019).

“The Epistles of Flannery O’Connor.” Article in America (Aug 20, 2018).

“Life & Death in the Afternoon: A Meditation on Bullfighting.” Article in America (October 2, 2017).

“The Fall of Ernest Hemingway.” Article in America (September 21, 2017).

“They Are Not Themselves: The Lives of the English Queens.” Article in America (April 3, 2017).

“Louise Erdrich: Poetry, Fiction, & the Art of Mythmaking.” Essay in Mezzo Cammin Journal (Fall 2017).

“Altars to the Unknown God: Poetry’s Religious Impulse.” Essay in Transcending Orthodoxies: Reclaiming Academic Freedom in Religiously Affiliated Universities, ed. Kenneth Garcia (Palgrave Macmillan Press, 2017).

“Poetry, the Power of the Pen, & the Redemption of Time.” Christianity & Literature (Spring 2016).

“Mary Karr & the Poetics of Conversion.” Essay in Mezzo Cammin Journal (Spring 2015).

“Poetry, Friendship, and the Communion of Saints: Thomas Merton & Czeslaw Milosz.” Essay in The Merton Annual (Spring 2015).

“Race and Grace: Flannery O’Connor’s ‘Everything that Rises Must Converge.” Article in America (May 18, 2015).

“This Blessed Place: The Work of Marilynne Robinson.” Article in America (April 27, 2015).

“Everyday Sacraments.” Article in America (December 8, 2014).

“The Sonnet Sequence & the Three S’s : Story, Symbol, & Song.” Essay in Wingbeats II: Exercises & Practice in Poetry (Dos Gatos Press, 2014).

“Conjure.” Essay in Spiritus (Fall 2013).

“Ordinary Glory: The Art of Breaking Bread with the Dead.” Christianity & Literature (Fall 2013).

“Anna Swir and the Poetics of Embodiment.” Essay in Mezzo Cammin Journal (Fall 2013).

“A Tale of Two Thomases.” America (April 22, 2013).

“Denise Levertov: A Poet’s Pilgrimage.” Essay in Mezzo Cammin Journal (Spring 2013).

“Poetry and Catholic Themes.” Essay in Teaching the Tradition, ed. John Piderit, SJ, and Melanie Morey. (Oxford University Press, 2012).

“Marie Ponsot and the Difficult Art of Ease.” Essay in Mezzo Cammin Journal. (Spring 2012).

“Seeing Catholicly: Poetry and the Catholic Imagination.” Essay in A Catholic Studies Reader, ed. James T. Fisher and Margaret McGuinness. (Fordham University Press, 2011).

“Living in the Crevice of Time: The Catholic Art of Josephine Jacobsen.” Essay in Mezzo Cammin Journal (Spring 2007)

“William Everson, The Veritable Years: Poems 1949-66.” Essay in Encyclopedia of Catholic Literature, Mary R. Reichardt, editor (Greenwood Press 2004).

“Tennyson's ‘English Idyls’: Studies in Poetic Decorum,” Studies in Philology, 85 (Winter, 1988): 125-44.

“A Great and Harsh Beauty.” Column in America, October 31, 2016.

“The Saints of Southwest Baltimore.” Column in America, September 12, 2016.

“Interrogating Grace.” Column in America, June 20, 2016.

“Hamilton: It’s About Rhyme.” Column in America, April 18, 2016.

“Hating February.” Column in America, February 15, 2016.

“A Poet’s Corner.” America, February 9, 2015.

“A Litany for Flannery.” America, March 23, 2015.

“In Our Sons’ Names.” America, May 18, 2015.

“Finding the Sacred Self.” America, August 17, 2015.

“Where Were You?” America, October 12, 2015

“The Mystic of Morningside Heights,” America, November 30, 2015.

“Lost in the Bronx.” America, November 27, 2014.

“The Bells of St. John’s,” America, August 8, 2014.

“Gathering Paradise,” America, April 14, 2014.

“Goodbye to the Catholic Writer?” America, January 20, 2014.

“The Sacrament of Story,” America, November 25, 2013.

“The Country of Mercy,” America, October 28, 2013.

“Finding Melville at Woodlawn,” America, July 28-August 5, 2013.

“Mother Love,” America, May 20, 2013.

“Saints in the City,” America, March 5, 2013