Lyall Powers

{{Short description|American academic (1924–2018)}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2025}}

Lyall H. Powers (July 13, 1924 – May 15, 2018) was a professor of English at the University of Michigan, where he taught since 1958.{{Cite web|url=https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/name/lyall-powers-obituary?pid=189048241|title=Lyall Powers obituary|last=|first=|date=18 May 2018|website=Legacy.com|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=April 6, 2020}} He was granted emeritus status by the University's Regents during their October 1992 meeting.[http://www.umich.edu/~urecord/9293/Oct26_92/7.htm Powers, Riordan, Buning granted emeritus status]. The University Record. October 26, 1992. Accessed 16 Aug. 2006.

Powers wrote widely on modern American authors, and with Leon Edel, edited the complete notebooks of Henry James (Oxford University Press, 1987).{{Cite news|last=Rowe|first=John Carlos|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-01-18-bk-5394-story.html|title=The Complete Notebooks of Henry James|date=January 18, 1987|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=April 6, 2020}} One of his most widely circulated books is Alien Heart (University of Manitoba Press, 2005), a biography of Canadian author Margaret Laurence. A lifelong friend of Laurence, Powers met her when they were students together in the 1940s. The book is described as "the first full-length biography of Margaret Laurence that combines personal knowledge and insights about Laurence with a study of her work".{{Cite web|url=https://uofmpress.ca/books/detail/alien-heart|title=Alien Heart: The Life and Work of Margaret Laurence|last=|first=|date=|website=University of Manitoba Press|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=April 6, 2020}}

Powers' archives are held at the University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections.{{Cite web|url=https://umlarchives.lib.umanitoba.ca/lyall-powers-fonds|title=Lyall Powers fonds|last=|first=|date=|website=University of Manitoba Archives|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=April 6, 2020}}