Mary E. Lyons was interviewed for BookCast by Fairfax County Public Library Director Sam Clay. BookCast is sponsored by Virginia Commerce Bank through the Fairfax Library Foundation.

• Mary Lyons, a reading specialist and school librarian for 23 years, is the author of 18 books for young people, including the recently published Letters From a Slave Boy: The Story of Joseph Jacobs, a companion to her 1992 book, Letters From a Slave Girl: The Story of Harriet Jacobs.



• She wrote her first book, Sorrow's Kitchen: The Life and Folklore of Zora Neale Hurston in 1980 after learning how much her eighth graders loved the author's folktales. She has been praised in her books for her use of dialect and "giving voice to the South." In addition to books on African Americans and women, she has written books about Irish-American history and ancient civilizations.



• Lyons has won numerous awards for her books, including ALA Notable Book Awards for Letters From a Slave Girl and Starting Home.



• She was born in Georgia and by the age of 11 had lived in five southern states and eight southern towns. She now lives in Charlottesville, VA.



• When she is not researching or writing books, she plays banjo and penny whistle for the Chicken Heads, a traditional music group. Their motto is: "We Play for Chicken Feed."