Details

Collection Summary
Collection: 00931 - North Dakota Authors
Folder: 0000.000
Item: 00005
Title: Richard Eugene Lyons
Date: 1980
Summary: Copy from book of portrait of Richard Eugene Lyons, American poet, and Professor of English at North Dakota State University from 1950 to 1982. [biography] Richard Eugene Lyons was born June 19, 1920 at Detroit, Michigan, the son of Frank C. and Daisy (Sweeny) Lyons. After graduating from high school he attended the University of Dayton for two years. He then went to Miami University at Oxford, Ohio where he earned a B.A. degree in 1942. After several years working in Dayton and recovering from tuberculosis, he returned in 1946 to Miami University to work on a master's degree which he received in 1947. Mr. Lyons then became an English instructor there for a year. In 1948 he went to Indiana University to begin work on a PH.D degree. In 1950, after two years, Mr. Lyons came to North Dakota Agricultural College where he held a dual position as order librarian and instructor in English. His early work was connected with the North Dakota Institute for Regional Studies where he researched for a proposed anthology of North Dakota writers. In 1959 Mr. Lyons returned full time to the English Department, and that same year took a sabbatical leave to attend the University of Minnesota where he completed his course work towards a degree in American Studies. Mr. Lyons returned to North Dakota State University to teach English until his retirement in 1981.Lyons was a published poet and a graphic artist. Though he concentrated on poetry, he exhibited his prints nationally and some of his writing concerns the visual arts. At Miami University, he was a member of the Poet's Circle. Numerous poems by Mr. Lyons have been published in periodicals including The New Yorker, The Virginia Quarterly Review, and The Kenyon Review. His first major work was Men and Tin Kettles (1956). Other publications include One Squeaking Straw (1958), Paintings in Taxicabs (a study of art consumers in North Dakota, 1965), Above Time (1968), editor of Poetry North: Five Poets of North Dakota (1970), Racer and Lame (1975) and Scanning the Land (1980). In addition to these publications, Mr. Lyons also operated a small printing press in his home on which he produced the publications of the Merrykit Press. His first Merrykit publication was Eclogues in Blue (1947).Richard Lyons was a member of the College English Association, the American Studies Association, the Rourke Art Gallery and Phi Kappa Phi. He was married in 1942 to Marjorie Dunkel. They had two children, Christopher and Cressida. Lyons retired from NDSU in 1982 and moved to Newark, Delaware. Marjorie Lyons died in 1983. In 1994 he moved to Gardiner, Maine, where he continued to write and publish poetry. Richard Lyons died January 29, 2000.
Red ID: PH_I_193252 Image ID: 172736 Image Notes: 00931-00005

Collection: 00931 Digitized Images from Collection
Title: North Dakota Authors
Date: 1970-1996

Summary: Collection of photographs of North Dakota authors used in exhibit on North Dakota authors or taken during the opening of the Language of the Land: Journey into Literary North Dakota presentation at the ND Heritage Center. The "Language of the Land" traveling exhibition was seen at the North Dakota Heritage Center in Bismarck from Feb. 4 to March 27, 1994. It was sponsored by the North Dakota Center for the Book and the State Historical Society of North Dakota. Using funds from the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund and additional funding from the North Dakota Humanities Council, the North Dakota Community Foundation and Maxwell's Books, the sponsors presented weekly lectures by North Dakota authors. The speakers were Kathie Ryckman Anderson, Larry Woiwode, David Solheim, Larry Watson, Louise Erdrich, Lois Phillips Hudson, Kathleen Norris and Richard Critchfield. Each lecture was taped for broadcast on both radio and television, and interviews with the authors were aired on Prairie Public Radio and community access television. A state literary map depicting 10 North Dakota writers and listing more than 100 writers who have either lived in North Dakota or written about the state was compiled and made available. A bibliography of North Dakota authors was also compiled and made available. For information, write the North Dakota Center for the Book, North Dakota State Library, 604 E. Boulevard, Bismarck, ND 58505-0800.

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