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, southwest of Bellevue, Washington, Bellevue, northeast of the state capital, Olympia ...

) 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 (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

, memoirist, librettist, and essayist.

Formal education

Cairns earned a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree from

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

(1977), a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) 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. Those admitted to the degree have ...

degree from

Hollins University Hollins University is a private university in Hollins, Virginia, United States. Founded in 1842 as Valley Union Seminary in the historical settlement of Botetourt Springs, Virginia, Botetourt Springs, it is Timeline of women's colleges in the Un ...

(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 admi ...

degree from

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

(1981), and a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

from the

University of Utah The University of Utah (the U, U of U, or simply Utah) is a public university, public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret (Book of Mormon), Deseret by the General A ...

(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 university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant coll ...

, Westminster College,

University of North Texas The University of North Texas (UNT) is a public university, public research university located in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. Its main campus is in Denton, Texas, Denton, with a satellite campus in Frisco, Texas, Frisco. It serves as the ...

Old Dominion University Old Dominion University (ODU) is a Public university, public research university in Norfolk, Virginia, United States. Established in 1930 as the two-year Norfolk Division of the College of William & Mary, it began by educating people with fewer ...

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

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

."Scott Cairns biography"

, Department of English While at

North Texas North Texas is a term used primarily by residents of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex to refer to a geographic area of Texas, generally considered to include the area south of Oklahoma, east of Abilene, Texas, Abilene, west of Paris, Texas, Par ...

, Cairns had served as editor of the ''

American Literary Review The ''American Literary Review'' is an American national biannual literary magazine of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. Since its Fall 2013 issue, ''ALR'' has been an online digital publication. Print publications are cataloged under . Hist ...

''. He was founding director of Writing Workshops in

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

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

Thasos Thasos or Thassos (, ''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 380 km2 and a population of about 13,000. It forms a separate regiona ...

. 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, United States. It was founded in 1891 in conjunction with the Oregon and Washington Conference of the Free Methodist Church as the Seattle Seminary. It ...

low-residency MFA program in creative writing, and currently serves as that program's director as it moves to Whitworth University in Spokane. With

Carolyn Forché Carolyn Forché (born April 28, 1950) is an American poet, editor, professor, translator, and human rights advocate. She has received many awards for her literary work. Biography Forché was born in Detroit, Michigan, to Michael Joseph and Louise ...

and

Ilya Kaminsky Ilya Kaminsky (born April 18, 1977) is a poet, critic, translator and professor. He is best known for his poetry collections ''Dancing in Odesa'' and ''Deaf Republic'', which have earned him several awards. In 2019, the BBC named Kaminsky among " ...

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

Works

Cairns is the author of twelve collections of poetry, one collection of translations/adaptations of Christian mystics, one spiritual memoir (now translated into Greek and Romanian), a book-length essay on suffering (now translated into Greek), 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, endowed by the late Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon individuals who have demonstrated d ...

*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 * ''Correspondence with My Greeks'' (Slant Books, 20240 * ''Lacunae'' (Paraclete Press, 2023) * ''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 Inc., 1998 * ''The Sacred Place'' o-edited with Scott Olsen(Anthology:

University of Utah Press The University of Utah Press is the independent publishing branch of the University of Utah and is a division of the J. Willard Marriott Library. Founded in 1949 by A. Ray Olpin, it is also the oldest university press in Utah. The mission of t ...

, 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 a me ...

, 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