Luci Shaw
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 Angels 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)
Non-fiction
- Colossians: Focus on the Cross
- God in the Dark: Through Grief and Beyond
- Water My Soul: Cultivating the Interior Life with Eugene Peterson
- Friends for the Journey with Madeleine L'Engle
- WinterSong: Christmas Readings with Madeleine L'Engle
- Life Path: Personal And Spiritual Growth through Journal Writing
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 set three of Shaw's poems for a song cycle.
- Frederick Frahm composed settings for solo and choir for three of Shaw's poems, "Star Song," "Down He Came From Up," and "Heart Stable."
- 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
- Shaw, Luci. Biography. Accessed October 16, 2007.
- "Biographical Information". Luci Shaw. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
- "Luci Shaw". Chrysostom Society. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
- Stetson, Nancy (19 November 1989). "Poet Luci Shaw Deal Honestly with Doubts and Struggles". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
- "50 Women You Should Know". Christianity Today. Retrieved 16 November 2012.
- Overstreet, Anne M. Doe. "A Conversation with Luci Shaw". Image Journal. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
- "Chrysostom Society". Retrieved 13 August 2019.
- Stiles, Peter (2010). "Luci Shaw (1928-)". The Encyclopedia of Christian Literature, Volume 1. Scarecrow Press. pp. 559–560.
- "PW: RH Acquires Harold Shaw". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 2019-10-14.