Flannery O'Connor, born on March 25, 1925, in Savannah, Georgia, was one of America's most celebrated short story writers. Even as a child, she was fascinated by unusual animals. At age five, a news crew filmed her pet chicken that could walk backward. Later, she raised more than 40 peacocks on her family farm, and their strange beauty showed up in her writing. O'Connor's stories are set in the rural American South. Her characters are often ordinary people who face unexpected moments that change them forever. She wrote about farmers, traveling salesmen, and families with secrets. Her most famous stories include "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" and "Everything That Rises Must Converge." Though her characters can seem funny at first, her stories often take dark and surprising turns. O'Connor was diagnosed with a serious illness called lupus when she was only 25 years old. She continued writing from her farm in Milledgeville, Georgia, producing two novels and 32 short stories before she died at age 39. Despite her short life, her work earned her a place among the most respected American authors of the twentieth century.