Grant Lyons (born 1941) is an American writer. He was born in
Butler, Pennsylvania
Butler is a city and the county seat of Butler County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located north of Pittsburgh and is part of the Greater Pittsburgh region. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 13,502.
History
Butler was na ...
, but grew up in
Port Arthur, Texas
Port Arthur is a city in Jefferson County within the Beaumont–Port Arthur metropolitan area of the U.S. state of Texas. A small, uninhabited portion extends into Orange County; it is east of Houston. The largest oil refinery in the United Sta ...
. While attending Thomas Jefferson High School in Port Arthur, Lyons and a group of male friends befriended
Janis Joplin
Janis Lyn Joplin (January 19, 1943 – October 4, 1970) was an American singer and musician. One of the most successful and widely known Rock music, rock stars of her era, she was noted for her powerful mezzo-soprano vocals and "electric" stage ...
, who was otherwise an outcast in school. As documented in all biographies of Janis Joplin, he was the person who played Janis her first
Lead Belly
Huddie William Ledbetter (; January 20, 1888 – December 6, 1949), better known by the stage name Lead Belly, was an American folk music, folk and blues singer notable for his strong vocals, Virtuoso, virtuosity on the twelve-string guita ...
record, which is considered a formative influence on her style of singing. He attended
Tulane University
Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private university, private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into ...
on a football scholarship, and he has a master's degree in Library Science as well as in History. Lyons is also the grandson of Captain Ulysses Grant Lyons, who ran and was briefly pronounced winner of a U.S. house of Representatives seat, before Earl Beshlin was eventually named the winner.
Lyons published primarily children's nonfiction books, most of which focused on North American Indian tribes and all of which were published by the now defunct publisher Julian Messener. His earliest book was ''Tales That People Tell In Mexico'' (1972), and later ones include ''Andy Jackson and the battles for New Orleans'' (1976), ''The Creek Indians'' (1978), ''Mustangs, Six Shooters, and Barbed Wire: How the West Was Really Won'' (1981), and ''Pacific Coast Indians of North America'' (1983).
Lyons has also written fiction for adults. His most significant publication to date was the anthology called ''4-4-4'' (1977), in which four of his short stories appeared in a book with four short stories by Laurence Gonzales and four short stories by Roger Rath, published by the University of Missouri Press Gonzales, Laurence, Grant Lyons, and Roger Rath.'' 4-4-4: Short Fiction.'' Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1977. ISB WorldCat /ref> Lyons has had short stories published in ''Cimarron Review, Confrontation, Negative Capability, Northwest Review, Redbook'', and ''Seattle Review''.
Lyons was also a teacher and librarian at
Keystone School
Keystone School, generally called Keystone, is a co-educational independent private school for students from pre-kindergarten to twelfth grade, located in the Monte Vista Historic District in Midtown San Antonio, Texas, USA.Bonnie Lyons.