Author to read in Deep Song Series

Poet and memoirist Scott Cairns, a six-time recipient of the Best American Spiritual Writing award, will read a selection of his work for Northwestern College’s Deep Song Reading Series on Monday, Nov. 7, at 7 p.m. in the Te Paske Gallery of the Korver Visual Arts Center. The event is free and open to the public. Coffee will be served.

Among Cairns’ published works are The End of Suffering: Finding Purpose in our Pain, which was named by Publishers’ Weekly as one of the top 100 books of 2009 and among the top 10 in the religion category, and his spiritual memoir, “Short Trip to the Edge: Where Earth Meets Heaven.”

The 2006 recipient of the John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship for poetry, Cairns has had poems published in such venues as The Atlantic, The Paris Review, The New Republic,  Spiritus, Image, and Poetry. His poems have appeared in such anthologies as Upholding Mystery, The Pushcart Prize Collection and Best American Spiritual Writing.

Cairns teaches modern and contemporary American literature and creative writing courses at the University of Missouri, Columbia. He earned a doctorate from the University of Utah, a Master of Fine Arts degree from Bowling Green State University, a master’s degree from Hollins College and a bachelor’s from Western Washington University.

The Deep Song Reading Series is hosted by Northwestern’s English department for the purpose of allowing students and community members to listen to authors of different genres speak about their published works and share some of their experiences in writing.

“Cairns has a very understated sense of humor,” says English professor Richard Sowienski. “I think people will find him entertaining.”