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Voices

Angela Alaimo O’Donnell teaches English Literature, American Catholic Studies and Creative Writing at Fordham University in New York City, and serves as Associate Director of the Curran Center for American Catholic Studies, an interdisciplinary certificate program for undergraduates who are interested in learning about the Catholic intellectual tradition. Before coming to Fordham seven years ago, she taught for 18 years at Loyola University Maryland. 

O’Donnell has published four books of poems: two chapbooks, MINE (2007) and Waiting for Ecstasy (2009), and two full-length collections of poems, Moving House (2009) and Saint Sinatra & Other Poems (2011). Her poems appeared regularly inAmerica, Christian Century, Christianity and Literature, The Cresset, First Things, Hawaii Pacific Review, Italian Americana, Potomac Review, Riverwind, RUNES: A Review of Poetry, Vineyards, Xavier Review, ThePedestalMagazine.com, Valparaiso Poetry Review and Windhover, among other publications. In 2012, O’Donnell published The Promise of Joy: Praying with Flannery O'Connor, a book of hours based on the prayer life of Catholic fiction writer, Flannery O’Connor.

In addition to writing poems, O’Donnell writes essays that engage literature and art in the context of the Catholic intellectual tradition. Her essays and reviews have appeared in journals such as America, Anglican Theological Review, Commonweal, Studies in Philology, Christianity and Literature and have been included in a variety of collections and anthologies.  Her essay on “Poetry & Catholic Themes” was recently published in Teaching the Tradition, edited by John Piderit, SJ, and Melanie Morey (Oxford University Press, 2012).

Arts & CulturePoetry
Angela Alaimo O'Donnell
I see them lining up for slaughter,/ Judas at the head of the pack/ grunting his way to survival, while my/ pigs do not stand a chance, doomed creatures/ that they are, and it’s a good thing.
Arts & CultureIdeas
Angela Alaimo O'Donnell
Letter writing is a genre O'Connor would master after she was diagnosed with lupus and exiled to her mother’s farm.
Arts & CultureLast Take
Angela Alaimo O'Donnell

“Show me a hero and I’ll write you a tragedy.” –F. Scott Fitzgerald

Reading a great biography is like watching a tragedy unfold. The promises of youth gradually give way to the limitations imposed by reality, and demise and denouement inevitably ensue.

Arts & CultureIdeas
Angela Alaimo O'Donnell
The bullfight enacts the human drama each of us participates in.
Arts & CultureTelevision
Angela Alaimo O'Donnell
If the rich are different from you and me, how much more different, then, are royalty?
Arts & CultureOf Other Things
Angela Alaimo O'Donnell
Helpless Catholic that I am, I have a confession to make. I am a Bruce Springsteen devotee.
Of Other Things
Angela Alaimo O'Donnell
An intimate glimpse into the lives of two parents whose son was killed on Sept. 11.
Theater
Angela Alaimo O'Donnell
A classic by Flannery O’Connor comes to life.
 Marilynne Robinson
Angela Alaimo O'Donnell
Reading a Marilynne Robinson novel is like going to church. Her books put us into conversation with the Bible, “a great ancient literature” (her words) whose powerful stories reveal their meanings gradually in multiple and ongoing ways. They posit a community of people who take their fai
Of Other Things
Angela Alaimo O'Donnell
The author would be 90 years old today.