Betsy Byars Duffey ’75 and Laurie Byars Myers ’73
Betsy Byars Duffey and Laurie Byars Myers
Writing Sisters: It’s a Family Affair
These Clemson sisters have blazed a trail in the publishing world. Together they have published more than 35 children’s novels and won numerous awards, including the S.C. Children’s Choice Award. Their names are known and loved by children all over the state of S.C., across the country and even around the world with books translated into Japanese and Korean.
Betsy Byars Duffey and Laurie Byars Myers The Shepherd’s Song book.
Their first novel for adults, The Shepherd’s Song, has been published by Howard Books of Simon & Schuster. It follows the incredible journey of one piece of paper —a copy of Psalm 23 — as it travels around the world, linking lives and hearts with its simple but beautiful message, and forever changing the lives of those who read it.
Whether it’s children’s or adult’s books, Betsy and Laurie do their research. In the past they’ve visited the Lewis and Clark trail, ridden dozens of roller coasters and gone SCUBA diving. The Shepherd’s Song involved a trip to a sheep farm to see first hand the life of a shepherd and the sheep.
Betsy and Laurie were born into a writing family with deep Clemson roots, beginning with grandfather, Edward H. Byars ’18. Their father, Edward F. Byars ’46, M ’54, wrote engineering textbooks and books about aviation; their mother, Betsy Byars, was a distinguished children’s author and the winner of numerous book awards, including a National Book Award, a Newbery and others. Two siblings, Nan Byars ’78 and Guy Byars ’80, are writers in their own fields.
Clemson laid a strong foundation for writing — for these two sisters and for their whole Tiger family!
Betsy and her husband live in Atlanta and have two grown sons. Laurie and her husband, Michael ’72, live in Augusta and have three grown children.
The Shepherd’s Song is available at Amazon.com.
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