My name is Thomas Cary Kinder.  People know me as Tom, but I publish under my full name to honor two Carys, my mother, who was my first spiritual and literary teacher, and my daughter, who inspires my fervent desire to contribute what I can to this struggling world.  I also honor Thomas Merton who opened to me the path I have walked as a contemplative, activist and writer since I was in my teens. 

I grew up in St. Clairsville, Ohio and now live in Strafford, Vermont where I work as a writer and homesteader and recently retired as pastor of one of the village churches. 

I am a graduate of Princeton University’s Creative Writing Program and English Department, a three time prize winner in the Bloodroot Literary Magazine poetry contest, a three time Pushcart Prize nominee and the author of over 9,000 poems including 7,000 sonnets, over 400 hymns and hundreds of free verse poems—as well as over 1,000 sermons.

I began serving as a United Church of Christ pastor in 1994 and was ordained five years later after graduating with an M. Div. from Harvard Divinity School.  I have had a daily contemplative practice since 1975 and been a teacher in the Christian contemplative tradition since 1997.

You can read more about my literary background by clicking here.  You can read more about my spiritual background by clicking here.