One of the best short story writers of her day, Mary Flannery O'Connor was a brilliant, and still is, highly acclaimed writer. His unique writing style plays a major role in his continued popularity. Ann Garbett states, "...O'Connor combined religious themes from his Roman Catholic outlook with a comically realist character from the Protestant rural South to create a narrative that is at once serious and comic" (1910). Mary O'Connor Flannery was an extremely talented young author who experienced hardship throughout her short life. However, he used these experiences, his Roman Catholic faith, and the writings of William Faulkner and Nathanael West to develop highly regarded short stories and novels such as "A Good Man Is Hard To Find" and Wise Blood. On March 25, 1925, one of America's greatest short story writers was born. An only child, Mary Flannery O'Connor was born in Savannah, Georgia, to Regina Cline and Edward O'Connor. O'Connor was very close to his father and when he was sixteen he was diagnosed with disseminated lupus, a disease that was incurable at the time. She was devastated when he died soon after his diagnosis. In 1942 O'Connor enrolled in a three-year accelerated program at the Georgia State College for Women. While there, she became very famous as a cartoonist for the campus literary magazine, newspaper, and yearbook. He attended graduate school at the University of Iowa, where he took part in the creative writing program and earned a master's degree in fine arts. It was at the University of Iowa that O'Connor published his first short stories. “Her master's thesis, “The Geranium: A Collection of Six Stories,” led to her receiving the Rinehart-Iowa Fiction Prize,” say Boswell and Roll......center of paper..... .dO'Connor, Mary Flannery. Wise blood. New York: Penguin Books USA Incorporated, 1962. Print. “O’Connor, (Mary) Flannery.” FactCite: Lincoln Library Biographies Online. Lincoln Lib. P,2012. Web December 3, 2013. Boswell, Marshall, and Carol Rollyson, eds. "O'Connor, Flannery." Bloom's literature. Facts on file, incorporated. Network. December 4, 2013.Carr, Patt. “Flannery O’Connor.” American writers. Lina Mainiero. New York: Fredrick Ungar Publishing Company, 1981. 287-291. “Flannery O’Connor.” Encyclopedia of World Biography. 2nd ed. vol. 11Detroit: Gale,2004. 467-468. Gale Virtual Library, Web. December 5, 2013. Kort, Carol. "O'Connor, Flannery." Bloom's literature. Facts archived, incorporated. Network. December 5, 2013. Garbett, Ann D. "Flannery O'Connor." Magill's survey of American literature. Steven G. Kellman. Pasadena: Salem Press Incorporated, 2007. 1909-1919. Press.