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Dan Guillory

Born:
Pen Name: None

Connection to Illinois: Guillory is Professor Emeritus at Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois. He resides in Findlay, Illinois.

Biography: Guillory grew up in the bayou country of southern Louisiana in a bilingual (French-English) family. He attended Tulane University in New Orleans, where he received a Ph.D. in 1972 in modern American poetry. He then taught at Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois from 1972 to 2004, when he took an early retirement to devote himself full-time to writing and lecturing. He was appointed Professor of English Emeritus in 2004. Dr. Guillory has won awards or grants from the Illinois Humanities Council, the Illinois Arts Council, the Academy of American Poets, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the American Library Association. Professor Guillory also served as a Fulbright Professor in West Africa from 1989 to 1990, on behalf of the U. S. Department of State. Professor Guillory has published hundreds of articles and book reviews, as well as chapters or sections in several books. He is the author of nine books and one audiobook, beginning with ''Living With Lincoln: Life and Art in the Heartland'' (1989) and continuing to ''The Lincoln Poems'' (2008) and ''The Lincoln Poems'' audiobook (2009). The ''Lincoln Poems'' was one of only twenty-one Lincoln books chosen from across the nation for presentation at the National Lincoln Bicentennial Celebration on February 12, 2009 in Springfield, Illinois. The book was also favorably reviewed in Library Journal. Professor Guillory has read his poetry at many colleges, museums, and libraries throughout Illinois. His book, ''The Lincoln Poems'', was one of twenty-one books selected for inclusion in the National Lincoln Bicentennial Celebration in Springfield on February 12, 2009. ''The Lincoln Poems'' is also on permanent display at the Ford Theatre Museum in Washington, D.C. The book consists of poems written in Lincoln’s assumed voice, dramatizing his childhood, his family, his sweetheart Ann Rutledge, his wife Mary Todd Lincoln, his nomination for the presidency in Decatur, his assassination, and his burial in Oak Ridge Cemetery. Dr. Guillory has presented ''The Lincoln Poems'' at such venues as Knox College, Southeast Missouri State University, Millikin University, the Vachel Lindsay Home, the Lincoln Home Visitors’ Center, the Elijah Iles Home, Illinois Benedictine University, Macon County History Museum, Macon County Conservation District—and at libraries in Lemont, Decatur, Mt. Zion, Sullivan, Warrensburg, and Monticello. He has also read the poems on WUIS-FM and on Illinois Public Radio and at the historic Oglesby Mansion in Decatur as part of the ''History Comes Alive Series''. Professor Guillory has won grants or awards from the Academy of American Poets, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Library Association, the Illinois Arts Council, and the Illinois Center for the Book. He was a poetry reviewer for Library Journal from 1975 to 2000, and he has published nine books, beginning with ''Living With Lincoln: Life and Art in the Heartland'' (1989), and including ''HousePoems'' (2013). His latest publication is a contribution to ''Gettysburg Replies'' (2015). Dr. Guillory worked for the State Department from 1989 to 1990 as a Fulbright Professor in Gabon, West Africa. He also worked for several years with the ''Looking for Lincoln'' organization , and, in that role, he edited over 200 of the outdoor wayside Lincoln exhibits, including those in Decatur, Champaign, and Bloomington.


Awards:
  • Award from the Academy of American Poets Illinois Arts council Reader's Series Dan was honored at the 1996 and 2005 Illinois Authors Book Fairs sponsored by the Illinois Center for the Book and the Illinois State Library in Springfield, Illinois.

Primary Literary Genre(s): Literary Nonfiction; Poetry

Primary Audience(s): Adult readers

Email: dan1944@frontiernet.net
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/people/Dan-Guillory/1606962128
Dan Guillory on WorldCat : http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=dan+guillory


Selected Titles

Decatur /
ISBN: 0738533041 OCLC: 57576555

Arcadia, Charleston, SC : ©2004.

Decatur, Illinois' nineteenth and twentieth century history is presented through vintage photographs.

Gettysburg replies :
ISBN: 9781493009121 OCLC: 902986782

The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library [Foundation] challenged presidents, judges, historians, filmmakers, poets, actors, and others to craft 272 words of their own to celebrate Lincoln, the Gettysburg Address, or a related topic that stirs their passions ... [The book] features images of important Lincoln documents and artifacts, including the first copy of the address that Lincoln wrote out after delivering it, the program from the cemetery dedication, Lincoln's presidential seal, and more.

  Housepoems :
ISBN: 1932278982 OCLC: 850972679

Mayhaven Pub., Mahomet, IL : ©2013.

Poetry and Essays on historic houses from Louisiana to the White House.

  Living with Lincoln :
ISBN: 093515311X OCLC: 19259389

Stormline, Urbana, Ill. : 1989.

This is a rich and varied collection of essays about Illinois by a professor of English at Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois.

Macon County /
ISBN: 0738541362 OCLC: 82959502

Arcadia Pub., Charleston, SC : ©2007.

Decatur, Illinois' nineteenth and twentieth century history is presented through vintage photographs.

  People & places in the Land of Lincoln
ISBN: 9781932278835 OCLC: 757829220

Mayhaven Pub., [Mahomet, Ill.] : â„—2011.

  People and places in the Land of Lincoln /
ISBN: 1932278648 OCLC: 642855646

The alligator inventions /
ISBN: 0935153144 OCLC: 25308453

Stormline Press, Urbana, Ill. : 1991.

  The Lincoln poems
ISBN: 9781932278538 OCLC: 226968916

Mayhaven Pub., Mahomet, IL : 2008.

Dan Guillory has focused on events in Lincoln's life to create poetry that is sometimes lyrical and sometimes graphic, but always, always, written to present a Lincoln made of skin and bone and heart.

Wartime Decatur, 1832-1945 /
ISBN: 073853997X OCLC: 67840474

Arcadia Pub., Charleston, SC : ©2005.

Wartime Decatur: 1832-1945 documents the vigorous wartime culture based on community involvement and a strong sense of patriotism.

When the waters recede :
ISBN: 0935153160 OCLC: 35745843

Stormline Press, Urbana, Ill. : ©1996.

 

 

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