Scott Cairns


Scott Clifford Cairns is an American poet, memoirist, librettist, and essayist.

Formal education

Cairns earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Western Washington University, a Master of Arts degree from Hollins University, a Master of Fine Arts degree from Bowling [Green State University], and a PhD from the University of Utah.

Academic career

Cairns has served on the faculties of Kansas State University, Westminster College, University of North Texas, Old Dominion University. He recently retired as Curators' Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Missouri. While at North Texas, Cairns had served as editor of the American Literary Review. He was founding director of Writing Workshops in Greece, an annual, 4-week workshop during the month of June, located in Thessaloniki and on the island of Thasos. Since 2015, he has also served on the poetry faculty of the Seattle Pacific University 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 and Ilya Kaminsky, 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, 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 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, Best Spiritual Writing, and Best American Spiritual Writing.

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

Works

  • , Poetry
  • , Poetry
  • , ''Poetry''