Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Scott Cairns, distinguished visiting writer-in-residence at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, will read at 7 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 8 in Kenan Hall 1111.

A former Guggenheim Fellow, Scott Cairns is the author of the book-length essay The End of Suffering (Paraclete Press, 2009) and the spiritual memoir Short Trip to the Edge (Harper, San Francisco). He has published several books of poetry, including Compass of Affection (Paraclete Press, 2006) and Philokalia (Zoo Press, 2002). His poems and essays have appeared in Poetry, Image, The Paris Review, The Atlantic and The New Republic, and have been anthologized in multiple editions of Best American Spiritual Writing. Cairns is teaching a graduate workshop in creative nonfiction as distinguished visiting writer-in-residence in the Department of Creative Writing.

Scott Cairns is Catherine Paine Middlebush Chair in English at the University of Missouri. During spring 2012, he will serve as a visiting professor of English at Saint Katherine College in Encinitas, Calif. He is also director of MU Summer Seminars in Greece, a program that provides graduate and undergraduate students with opportunities for intensive engagement with literary life in modern Greece.

Upcoming Events
• Reading by David Gessner, UNCW associate professor of nonfiction, 7 p.m., Thurs., Sept. 15, Kenan Hall 1111
• Writers Week, with keynote address by distinguished visiting writer-in-residence in fiction Steve Almond, Nov. 14–18, various locations. Check www.uncw.edu/writers for a forthcoming detailed schedule.

All events are free and open to the public. Receptions sponsored by the department and book signings sponsored by Pomegranate Books will follow readings.

For further information on UNCW's programs and events in creative writing, please contact the Department of Creative Writing at 910.962.7063.