Scott Owens (born 1963) is an American poet, teacher, and editor living in Hickory, North Carolina.
History
Owens was born in Greenwood, South Carolina, and raised in mill villages and on his grandparents' small farm. His father was in the military, and the family later moved to Fort Bragg, NC, and then to Darmstadt, Germany, and Augusta, Georgia, where he graduated from the Academy of Richmond County. Most of his early childhood was lived below the poverty line, necessitating frequent relocation in and around Greenwood. His childhood was also marked by periods of domestic abuse by his stepfathers. His mother was married 6 times during his childhood and his father 5 times. Three of their marriages were to each other. In Hickory, Owens, with his wife, Julie, became owner of Taste Full Beans Coffeehouse, where he has hosted the monthly reading series, Poetry Hickory, since 2007.
Education
Owens was the first member of his family to attend college. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English with a minor in Education at Ohio University, where he studied with novelist, Daniel Keyes, and poet, Paul Nelson. He continued on to the University of North Carolina, Charlotte for a master's degree in English, studying with Robin Hemley, Robert Waters Grey, and Christopher Davis, and working on the journal, "Southern Poetry Review". He also earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing from the University of North Carolina, Greensboro, studying under Fred Chappell and Stuart Dischell.
Poetry Community and Editing Work
He is the founder of the reading series, Poetry Hickory (2007 - ), and the University Community Poetry Series (2016 - 2018), editor of "Wild Goose Poetry Review," and a writer of reviews of poetry collections and articles about writing. He has also been author of the poetry column, "Musings," published in Outlook, founding editor of 234, Associate Editor of Southern Poetry Review, Vice President of the Poetry Council of NC and the NC Poetry Society, and Founder of The Art of Poetry at the Hickory Museum of Art. He has taught creativity, writing, and poetry workshops at various schools, conferences, and conventions throughout the Southeast, most recently at Lenoir Rhyne University. He has also served as a judge for numerous poetry contests and been on the board of various reading series. Owens is recognized as a proponent of and community organizer for poetry.
Teaching
Owens has taught at the middle school, high school, and college levels, including a stint as Headmaster of The Patterson School.
Most of his creative and critical work has been completed while living in Hickory, North Carolina, and teaching at Lenoir Rhyne University and Catawba Valley Community College where, in 2013, he was recognized with the "Adjunct Excellence in Teaching Award."
Writing Awards
Owens's books, Prepositional, and Sky Full of Stars and Dreaming were nominated for a National Book Critics' Circle Award. His poems have been nominated for eleven Pushcart Prizes and seven Best of the Net Awards, and received awards from the Academy of American Poets, the North Carolina Poetry Society, the Poetry Society of South Carolina, the Next Generation Indie Awards, and the North Carolina Writer's Network. His poem, "So Norman Died of Course,"received a Special Mention from the Pushcart Prize Anthology for 2009 and "On the Days I Am Not My Father," "Cleaning House," "The Arrival of the Past," and "Rails" were featured on Garrison Keillor's The Writer's Almanac. His more than 1400 published poems have appeared in a diverse range of journals, including Georgia Review, North American Review, Poetry East, Hayden’s Ferry Review, Cimarron Review, Greensboro Review, Chattahoochee Review, Cream City Review, Beloit Poetry Journal, and Cottonwood, among others. More than 100 of his essays and reviews have appeared in Main Street Rag, The Pilot, Pirene's Fountain, and many others. He has spoken about poetry or shared his work on NPR, TedX, several radio shows and podcasts, and at more than 200 public readings at universities, libraries, and conferences. His essays on poetry have appeared multiple times in Poets Market.
Owens' papers are housed in the South Carolina Poetry Archives in the James B Duke Library at Furman University.