Scott Clifford Cairns (born 1954 in

Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, Washington, Olympia, and northwest of Mount ...

) is an American

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wr ...

, memoirist, librettist, and essayist.

Formal education

Cairns earned a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

degree from

Western Washington University Western Washington University (WWU or Western) is a public university in Bellingham, Washington. The northernmost university in the contiguous United States, WWU was founded in 1893 as the state-funded New Whatcom Normal School, succeeding a pri ...

(1977), a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. ...

degree from Hollins University (1979), a

Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts a ...

degree from

Bowling Green State University Bowling Green State University (BGSU) is a Public university, public research university in Bowling Green, Ohio. The main academic and residential campus is south of Toledo, Ohio. The university has nationally recognized programs and research ...

(1981), and a

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...

from the

University of Utah The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of D ...

(1990).

Academic career

Cairns has served on the faculties of

Kansas State University Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public insti ...

, Westminster College,

University of North Texas The University of North Texas (UNT) is a public research university in Denton, Texas. It was founded as a nonsectarian, coeducational, private teachers college in 1890 and was formally adopted by the state 11 years later."Denton Normal Schoo ...

Old Dominion University Old Dominion University (Old Dominion or ODU) is a public research university in Norfolk, Virginia. It was established in 1930 as the Norfolk Division of the College of William & Mary and is now one of the largest universities in Virginia wi ...

. He recently retired as Curators' Distinguished Professor of English at the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus University of Missouri System. MU was founded ...

."Scott Cairns biography"

, Department of English While at

North Texas North Texas (also commonly called North Central Texas) is a term used primarily by residents of Dallas, Fort Worth, and surrounding areas to describe much of the north central portion of the U.S. state of Texas. Residents of the Dallas–Fort W ...

, Cairns had served as editor of the '' American Literary Review''. He was founding director of Writing Workshops in

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wit ...

, an annual, 4-week workshop during the month of June, located on the island of

Thasos Thasos or Thassos ( el, Θάσος, ''Thásos'') is a Greek island in the North Aegean Sea. It is the northernmost major Greek island, and 12th largest by area. The island has an area of and a population of about 13,000. It forms a separate r ...

. Since 2015, he has also served on the poetry faculty of the

Seattle Pacific University Seattle Pacific University (SPU) is a private Christian university in Seattle, Washington. It was founded in 1891 in conjunction with the Oregon and Washington Conference of the Free Methodist Church as the Seattle Seminary. It became the ...

low-residency MFA program in creative writing, and currently serves as that program's director. With Carolyn Forché and

Ilya Kaminsky Ilya Kaminsky (born April 18, 1977) is a hard-of-hearing, USSR-born, Ukrainian-Russian-Jewish-American poet, critic, translator and professor. He is best known for his poetry collections ''Dancing in Odesa'' and ''Deaf Republic'', which have ear ...

, he also directs Mystikós: A Writers Retreat in Greece.

Works

Cairns is the author of ten collections of poetry, one collection of translations of Christian mystics, one spiritual memoir (now translated into Greek and Romanian), a book-length essay on suffering, and co-edited ''The Sacred Place'' with Scott Olsen, an anthology of poetry, fiction and nonfiction. It won the inaugural

National Outdoor Book Award The National Outdoor Book Award (NOBA) was formed in 1997 as an American-based non-profit program which each year presents awards honoring the best in outdoor writing and publishing. It is housed at Idaho State University and chaired by Ron Watte ...

(Outdoor Literature category) in 1997. He wrote the libretto for "The Martyrdom of Saint Polycarp", an oratorio composed by JAC Redford, and the libretto for "A Melancholy Beauty", an oratorio composed by Georgi Andreev. Cairns's poems have appeared in journals including ''The Atlantic Monthly'', ''The Paris Review'', ''The New Republic'', ''Image'', and ''Poetry'', and have been anthologized in ''Upholding Mystery'' (Oxford University Press, 1996), ''Best Spiritual Writing'' (Harper Collins, 1998 and 2000), and ''Best American Spiritual Writing'' (Houghton Mifflin, 2004, 2005, and 2006).

Family

He is married to Marcia Lane Vanderlip and they have two children, Benjamin V. Cairns and Elizabeth V. Cairns-Callen. He has a brother, Steve Cairns, who currently resides in Hong Kong, teaching at an International School.

Awards

*2006

Guggenheim Fellow Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

*2014 The Denise Levertov Award

Works

''Another Road Home''
''Poetry'' (July–August 2009)

''Poetry'' (January 2009)

''Poetry'' (January 2009)

External links

Partaking in the Holy Mysteries Scott Cairns Interview Part I

Partaking in the Holy Mysteries Scott Cairns Interview Part II

Scott Cairns on Reading, Writing, and Responsibility

Scott Cairns: Words Lead You To Ideas

Scott Cairns

Scott Cairns: A Poet's Dialogue

Scott Cairns Findingod

References

Bibliography * ''Anaphora'' (Paraclete Press, 2019) * ''Slow Pilgrim: The Collected Poems'' (Paraclete Press, 2015) * ''Idiot Psalms: New Poems'' (Paraclete Press, 2014) * ''Endless Life: Poems of the Mystics'' (Translations/Adaptations: Paraclete Press, 2014) * ''The End of Suffering: Finding Purpose in Pain'' (Nonfiction: Paraclete Press, 2009) * ''Love's Immensity: Mystics on the Endless Life'' (Translations/Adaptations: Paraclete Press, 2007) * ''Short Trip to the Edge: Where Earth Meets Heaven—A Pilgrimage'', Spiritual Memoir: (HarperSanFrancisco, 2007)
''Compass of Affection: Poems New and Selected''
Poems: Paraclete Press, 2006, * ''Philokalia'' (Poems: Zoo Press, 2002) * ''Recovered Body'' Poems: George Braziller, George Braziller Inc., 1998 * ''The Sacred Place'' o-edited with Scott Olsen(Anthology: University of Utah Press, 1996) * ''Figures for the Ghost'' Poems:

University of Georgia Press The University of Georgia Press or UGA Press is the university press of the University of Georgia, a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Athens, Georgia. It is the oldest and largest publishing house in Georgia and ...

, 1994, * ''Disciplinary Treatises'' (Poetry Chapbook: Trilobite Press, 1993) * ''Sermons for the Wary'' (Poetry Chapbook: Franciscan University Press, 1993) * ''The Translation of Babel'' (Poems:

, 1990) * ''The Theology of Doubt'' (Poems: Cleveland State University Press, 1985) * ''Finding the Broken Man'' (Poetry Chapbook: Window Press, 1982) General references (biographical) Inline citations {{DEFAULTSORT:Cairns, Scott 1954 births Writers from Tacoma, Washington Western Washington University alumni Bowling Green State University alumni University of Utah alumni University of North Texas faculty Hollins University alumni American male poets American poets University of Missouri faculty Living people Chapbook writers