Visiting Assistant Professor
Howard College of Arts and Sciences
English
slmcdani@samford.edu
Shannon Skelton holds an MFA in creative writing from Georgia College and State University and an MAE in English education from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Her writing can be found in publications like The Flannery O’Connor Review and Image Journal. Teaching, writing, and research interests of hers include stories (in many forms), contemporary fiction, the writing process, grief in writing, Flannery O’Connor, writing and faith, the evolution of the essay, and the intersection of creative writing and composition pedagogies. Shannon taught middle and high school English in both public and private schools in Alabama and Kentucky before earning her MFA in fiction at Georgia College, where she taught creative writing and composition before joining Samford’s faculty.

Education

  • MFA in Creative Writing, Fiction, Georgia College and State University
  • MAE in Education, Secondary English/Language Arts, The University of Alabama at Birmingham
  • BA in English, Samford University

Selected Presentations and Publications

  • “When Death is Out of Fashion: Flannery O’Connor and Zadie Smith on Being Pilgrims at Home.” Flannery Abroad: A Conference in Celebration of Flannery O’Connor’s Centenary, June 2025, London, UK. (essay presentation)
  • “On Crashing into a Deer After Years of Grief.” National Endowment for the Humanities Conference, Flannery O’Connor’s Second Century: Looking Forward, Looking Back, September 2024, Milledgeville, GA. (essay presentation)
  • “An Argument for the Salvation of George Rayber in The Violent Bear It Away,” Flannery O'Connor Review, Volume 14, 2016. (critical essay)
  • “Renewing Constraint: The Legacy and Practice of Restricted Writing,” Association of Writers and Writing Programs: Annual Conference, March-April 2016, Los Angeles, CA. (panel organizer, moderator, and presenter)
  • “Communion,” Flannery O’Connor and Other Southern Women Writers Conference, September 2015. Milledgeville, GA. (fiction reading)
  • “A Viewing Party.” Image, vol. 83, January 2015. (fiction)
  • “Tree House.” Ruminate, vol. 29, April 2014. (fiction)
  • “Guilty.” Ruminate, vol. 26, December 2012. (fiction)

Selected Awards and Honors

  • Thank-A-Teacher Award(s), Georgia College and State University, 2023, 2025.
  • The Sarah Gordon Award, Flannery O'Connor Review, 2016.
  • Association of Writers and Writing Programs, Intro Journals Award, Honorable Mention, Fiction, 2016.
  • Graduate Teaching Fellowship, MFA Creative Writing Program, Georgia College and State University, 2014-2016.
  • Graduate Research Grant, Georgia College and State University, 2016.
  • Flannery O'Connor Alumni Scholarship, Georgia College and State University, 2015-2016.
  • MFA Creative Writing Scholarship, Georgia College and State University, 2013-2016.