Background
Scott was born on September 19, 1966, in Beverly, Massachusetts, United States.
1990
Ayres Hall at the University of Tennessee
1997
The Pyramid at Long Beach State
(Streets and street life are a major source of inspiration...)
Streets and street life are a major source of inspiration for Mr. Holstad. This chapbook treats themes of eviction, prostitution, and the lowest-common-denominator of human existence. Mr. Holstad is clearly an example of the Flaubertian dictum that all of us are in the gutter, but some of us are looking at stars. -- factsheet five, vol. 45, 1992
https://openlibrary.org/works/OL27718259W/Street_Poems
1991
(Scott Holstad is a hardworking poet whose [new] book has ...)
Scott Holstad is a hardworking poet whose [new] book has just been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in poetry... Holstad's poems are predominantly voice driven -- and that voice is often filled with the anger of moral outrage. Poems such as "let's give ourselves a round," "this is what we are" and "just for kicks" express the poet's disgust with his fellow American's penchant for mindless violence and excess. But Holstad's poems are just plain angry. In the poem "smoking," the poet, having recently quit after ten years expresses a desire to "file [his] teeth / on your forehead." Places also announces some new directions for Holstad's work -- some poems reveal a quieter, more contemplative aspect of his voice... But this is not to say that Holstad has gone soft--not by any stretch of the imagination. These poems provide relief from a vision of the world which might otherwise prove too bleak for most readers... Ultimately, for Holstad, as for Bukowski, "The poem is the / crutch, the gun, the / good drink." Need I say more? -- GP Lainsbury, VOX, University of Calgary, 1996
https://openlibrary.org/works/OL8673944W/Places
1995
(For the better part of the 1990s, Caffeine Magazine was t...)
For the better part of the 1990s, Caffeine Magazine was the largest poetry magazine in the country… Contributors included Charles Bukowski, Allen Ginsberg, Scott Holstad…This anthology came out of that steaming magazine.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/894870.Scream_When_You_Burn
1998
(Pay attention. Exactly this lesson Scott lays out line by...)
Pay attention. Exactly this lesson Scott lays out line by insightful line in his newest chap. Beginning and ending in the confines of coffeehouses, he points out that caffeinated moments of conversation and meditation can only grow by feeding them with life experience. Scott then takes the rest of the book to describe and analyze life as he sees it in the big city. The usual bad boys, druggies and hookers run the streets of the west, the ER ward works overtime, and all around everyone’s looking for some sort of revolution: salvation for the unrighteous. Scott finds his in an open mind flowing into well-constructed verse, a hot cuppa joe, and some cool jazz. It all keeps him sane and able to sleep at night, making for a guy with something interesting to talk about. -- Flipside Magazine vol. 120, 1999
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/188928937X/?tag=2022091-20
1999
("When poetry focuses on the more sinful, cruel, and patho...)
"When poetry focuses on the more sinful, cruel, and pathological side of human nature, we typically refer to it as “dark.” I wouldn’t describe Scott Holstad’s poetry that way. His works are so violent, angry, and self-effacing that they seem to transcend darkness; they are so engorged with pain that questions of morality and immorality seem irrelevant. Despite his recent Pulitzer nomination, Scott remains active on the small press circuit, which is odd, because you’d think most small presses would be afraid to print this stuff. -- J Penton, Sick Puppy Press
https://openlibrary.org/works/OL26432537W/Shadows_Before_the_Maiming
1999
(When you dig for the painful memories that won't go away,...)
When you dig for the painful memories that won't go away, the relics of a man's life, you come away with Artifacts. Artifacts is the latest chapbook from Scott C. Holstad, a man who has made a shocking and powerful mark on the small press scene since he first appeared. Scot's work hangs with a sharp edge, whether he gives you his satirical and often hilarious perspective of being a refugee of the mental health system, or when he talks about his anger, writing with clouds of frustration and explosive revelations about his inner mind. Scott writes with one eye on the people around him who have suffered for his pains, the casualties of the craziness that lurks inside all of us. Artifacts is a book for the strangers and the survivors who populate the poems which have come from Holstad.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0970875002/?tag=2022091-20
2001
("Scott Holstad thinks in poetry, in rhythmical waves. His...)
"Scott Holstad thinks in poetry, in rhythmical waves. His imagination surges ahead, large and generous, the cut of his lines always clean and firm. These fervent, honest, well-made poems carry the reader through the underworld and back in a healing action that reminds us of Rimbaud's 'Drunken Boat' or Odysseus' journey with the golden bough. 'Tegretol' is destined to become a contemporary classic. 'Tennessee Football Saved My Ass' reminds us of Holstad's unfailing, albeit dark sense of humor."-Marilyn Kallet
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1413741800/?tag=2022091-20
2004
(This anthology is a compendium of the best poetry publish...)
This anthology is a compendium of the best poetry published in those Little Red Books from 1998 to 2008 and, if you just simply happened upon THE LONG WAY HOME on a bookstore shelf and if you are like me, you’d be unable to resist reaching for this volume. It’s one of the most attractive anthologies of poetry I’ve seen in awhile. The cover is set off in a stark black at top and bottom with a fire engine red swath across the middle. This is the kind of anthology which appeals to the primal instincts beginning with cover design and following through with the contents. And, if you think this is an exaggeration, try this poem by Scott Holstad ["Time to Fly" reprinted in its entirety]. Some poems contain within them the ability to inflict serious damage to the reader… this kind of poetry inflicts the deepest of psychic wounds. -- Todd Moore, Outlaw Poetry, March 2009
https://www.worldcat.org/title/long-way-home-the-best-of-the-little-red-book-series-1998-2008/oclc/430831539&referer=brief_results
2009
Scott was born on September 19, 1966, in Beverly, Massachusetts, United States.
Scott holds three English and Creative Writing degrees from the University of Tennessee (1990), California State University Long Beach (1994) and a terminal degree from Queens University of Charlotte (2003). He also studied Electrical Engineering at UCLA from 1995-1999 while obtaining a certificate in Computer Science from the University of Michigan (2016).
Holstad started his career as a freelance writer in 1989 and with an editorial job at STC Press in 1990. Since then he has worked in writing, editing, publishing, academia, project and program management, network engineering, advertising, consulting, political campaigns, counseling, disaster recovery and contingency planning, security, geopolitical analysis and research in several hard sciences.
(This anthology is a compendium of the best poetry publish...)
2009(For the better part of the 1990s, Caffeine Magazine was t...)
1998("When poetry focuses on the more sinful, cruel, and patho...)
1999(When you dig for the painful memories that won't go away,...)
2001(Scott Holstad is a hardworking poet whose [new] book has ...)
1995(Scott Holstad’s Junction City [Sister Moon Press] — "High...)
1993(Streets and street life are a major source of inspiration...)
1991("Scott Holstad thinks in poetry, in rhythmical waves. His...)
2004(Pay attention. Exactly this lesson Scott lays out line by...)
1999Scott Holstad grew up in a stringent Calvinist environment from which he distanced himself over time. He has long viewed himself as a freethinker and has been a professional member of organizations such as the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and Humanities (HAC), IEEE, the American Nuclear Society (ANS) and the American Physical Society (APS Physics) for years.
Holstad has consulted for and worked with both major parties and is a member of none. Neither, in their recent or present forms come close to representing him, his beliefs, concerns, etc Holstad is an SME on fascist history, theory and tactics and is a committed antifascist..
The Authors Guild, Inc.
1993 - present
Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
1996 - present
IEEE: The Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers
1997 - present
American Association of Political Consultants (AAPC)
2015 - present
Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE)
2016 - present
American Nuclear Society (ANS)
2017 - present
Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association (AFCEA)
2014 - present
Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations (SHAFR)
2017 - present
American Counseling Association (ACA)
2016 - present
American Physical Society (APS)
2017 - present
US Naval Institute
2018 - present
Association of Old Crows (AOC)
2015 - present
National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA)
2019 - present
ASIS International
2015 - present
American Academy of Neurology (AAN)
2020 - present
THE ROYAL UNITED SERVICES INSTITUTE FOR DEFENCE STUDIES (RUSI)
2020 - present
Quotes from others about the person
- Holstad's work is "…reminiscent of the Beat movement…has a Whitmanesque-Ferlinghetti street feel which is refreshing to see… He creates the stream-of-consciousness, unedited inner life of we human beings which moves his work from a narrow to universal scope." -- The Hawai'i Review
- With his scruffy, rambling and streetwise poems, Scott C. Holstad is in the forefront of an important movement transforming American poetry. -- Edward Field, author of 25+ books, winner of the Lamont and Lambda Literary awards, a Guggenheim Fellowship, W.H. Auden Award, the Prix de Rome and an Academy Award.
- Scott C. Holstad is a prolific essayist and poet whose work has appeared in hundreds of magazines around the world. - Asheville Poetry Review
- Holstad’s work is brassy and strong. - Laurel Speer, poet and author of 25 books
- Scott C. Holstad is a first rate poet. - Gerald Locklin, author of over 150 books and often considered Charles Bukowski’s favorite living writer
- Holstad’s work easily reminds of Bukowski. The style is similar to the laconic and his writing, Buk-style, often tells of its own thoughts and everyday experiences…he is one of the strongest and most inspiring, honest, straightforward…and his work has a really beautiful lexicon in its simplicity. - Introduction of Scott C. Holstad to readers of Finnish magazine Rendezvou’ssa by editor Miika Miiettunen
collecting rare vinyl, customized knives, history of southeast Asia, geopolitics, designing and having custom built very high-end gaming PCs
Sartre, Dawkins, Arendt, Christopher Hitchens, Thomas Paine
Howard Zinn, Stokely Carmichael, Lee Kuan Yew
Charles Bukowski, Albert Camus, Philip K Dick, Lawrence Ferlinghetti
Salvadore Dali, Juan Gris, Braque, Erte, Wyland, Klee
Hockey (Pittsburgh Penguins), US football, college basketball
Jack Lambert, Marc-Andre Fleury, Ray Mancini, Mel Blount
old alternative, hard rock, funk,industrial, jazz fusion, new wave, symphonic metal, electronica, flamenco, experimental
Holstad married Gretchen VanOstrand April 6, 2013