Luci Shaw
Born (1928-12-29) December 29, 1928
England
CitizenshipAmerican (naturalized in 1995)
Alma materWheaton (1953)
Occupation(s)poet, essay writer
Spouses
  • Harold Shaw
  • John Hoyte (1991)

Luci Shaw (born December 29, 1928) is a Christian writer of poetry and essays.[1][2]

Background

Shaw was born on December 29, 1928, in England.[2] Her parents were medical missionaries, and she lived in Canada and Australia before moving to the United States to attend Wheaton College, Illinois.[3] Shaw graduated from Wheaton in 1953 with high honors.[3][4]

Shaw became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1995.[2]

Shaw is now Writer in Residence at Regent College, Vancouver. She lectures on art and spirituality, the Christian imagination, poetry-writing, and journaling as an aid to artistic and spiritual growth.[5]

She has published ten volumes of poetry (several still in print) and numerous non-fiction books, and has edited and collaborated on multiple other works, including several with Madeleine L'Engle.[6] Her poems are widely anthologized.[1] Shaw usually works in free verse, and typically her poems are quite short, less than a page. Nevertheless, in tone and content, she affiliates most readily with the transcendental poets, often finding in natural details and themes the touch of the eternal or other-worldly.

She is a charter member of the Chrysostom Society, an organization of published writers which "serves the Christian community by promoting the development of quality literature."[7]

Shaw married Harold Shaw and had five children: Robin, Marian, John, Jeffrey, and Kristin.[2] Shaw and her husband started a publishing house, Harold Shaw Publishers, in the basement of their home in 1972.[3][4] After Harold died from lung cancer in 1986, Shaw became president of Harold Shaw Publishers.[3][4][8] Stephen Board became owner of Harold Shaw Publishers in 1990 and sold it to Random House's WaterBrook Press in 2000.[9]

Shaw married John Hoyte in 1991.[8] They are members of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Bellingham, Washington, where they currently live.[1][6]

Selected works

Poetry

  • Listen to the Green (1973)
  • The Secret Trees (1976)
  • The Sighting (1981)
  • Postcard from the Shore (1986)
  • Writing the River (1994)
  • The Angles of Light (2000)
  • The Green Earth (2002)
  • Water Lines (2003)
  • Polishing the Petoskey Stone (2003)
  • What the Light Was Like (2006)
  • Accompanied by Angels (2006)
  • Harvesting Fog (2010)
  • Scape (2013)
  • Thumbprint in the Clay (2016)
  • Sea Glass (2016)
  • Eye of the Beholder (2019)
  • The Generosity (2020)

Non-fiction

  • Colossians: Focus on the Cross Fisherman Bible Studyguides (1982)
  • God in the Dark: Through Grief and Beyond (1989)
  • Life Path: Personal And Spiritual Growth through Journal Writing (1991)
  • Horizons: Exploring Creation with Timothy Botts (1992)
  • Friends for the Journey with Madeleine L'Engle (1997)
  • Water My Soul: Cultivating the Interior Life; foreword by Eugene Peterson (2003)
  • WinterSong: Christmas Readings with Madeleine L'Engle (2004)
  • The Crime of Living Cautiously: Hearing God's Call to Adventure (2005)
  • Adventure of Ascent: Field Notes from a Lifelong Journey (2014)

Use in music

A number of Shaw's works have been set to music, by a variety of composers:

  • Alan Cline used "God in the Dark" as the basis for a cantata.
  • Knut Nystedt (Norwegian composer) did a setting for "Mary's Song", sung and recorded by the Elektra Choir of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and appears on their album, Child of Grace.
  • Alice Parker (American) set three of Shaw's poems for a song cycle.
  • Frederick Frahm (American) composed settings for solo and choir for three of Shaw's poems, "Star Song," "Down He Came From Up," and "Heart Stable". Frahm also composed a Cantata for Michaelmas based on Shaw's poem “Angel Vision" and a Christmas Cantata (“From East to West”) based on texts by Shaw.
  • Ed Henderson (Canadian) composed a choral setting for "Star Song".
  • Roland Fudge (English) composed a choral setting for "One", "Celestial Light", and "Steadfast Taper".

References

  1. 1 2 3 Shaw, Luci. Biography. Accessed October 16, 2007.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Biographical Information". Luci Shaw. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Luci Shaw". Chrysostom Society. May 2011. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
  4. 1 2 3 Stetson, Nancy (19 November 1989). "Poet Luci Shaw Deal Honestly with Doubts and Struggles". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
  5. ↑ "50 Women You Should Know". Christianity Today. Retrieved 16 November 2012.
  6. 1 2 Overstreet, Anne M. Doe. "A Conversation with Luci Shaw". Image Journal. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
  7. ↑ "Chrysostom Society". Retrieved 13 August 2019.
  8. 1 2 Stiles, Peter (2010). "Luci Shaw (1928-)". The Encyclopedia of Christian Literature, Volume 1. Scarecrow Press. pp. 559–560. ISBN 9780810872837.
  9. ↑ "PW: RH Acquires Harold Shaw". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 2019-10-14.
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