George Ella Lyon grew up near a small coal-mining town amid a large extended family who shared stories, music, and poetry. She began writing early in childhood and kept up with it as she progressed through college, marriage, and motherhood.
George Ella Lyon published her first book, a poetry collection called Mountain, in 1983. When an editor asked her if she wrote for children, Lyon replied that she did not, but the question sparked an interest in her, and she later wrote many books for children of various age groups. Many of these books used questions asked by her small children as ideas.
With a Hammer for My Heart, published in 1997, is her 22nd book, but, more significantly, it is her first novel for adults and has been translated into German. It was adapted as a play by Ed Smith and produced at Georgetown College.
She is an author who has worked in many genres, including picture books, poetry, juvenile novels, young adult novels, and scholarly articles about American literature and women's issues. Within all of these genres, she frequently focuses on the lives and concerns of the Appalachian people, particularly those in her native state, Kentucky.
Novels
-With a Hammer for My Heart, 1997.
-Gina. Jamie. Father. Bear, 2002.
-Sonny's House of Spies, 2004.
Poetry
-Mountain, 1983.
-Catalpa, 1993.
-Counting on the Woods, photographs by Ann W. Olson, 1998.
-Where I'm From, Where Poems Come From, 1999
Awards
-Lamont Hall Award, Andrew Mountain Press, 1983, for Mountain
-Golden Kite Award, Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, 1989, for Borrowed Children
-Kentucky Bluegrass Award, for Basket and One Lucky Girl
-Andrew Mountain Press Award, for Mountain
-Book of the Year Award, Appalachian Writers Association, for Catalpa
-Best Books of the Year citation, Publishers Weekly, for Who Came Down that Road?
-Jesse Stuart Media Award, Kentucky School Media Association, for body of work.
