Assistant Professor
Department of English

Office: Rosenwald 415E
Phone: (773) 834-0280
reddy1@uchicago.edu

I work primarily in the field of poetry and poetics, with an emphasis on creative writing. As a poet and scholar, I am particularly interested in the intersection of critical and creative practice, and in the institutional history that has come to segregate these endeavors. I teach both creative writing “workshop” courses—from beginning poetry workshops to special topics courses on avant-garde writing practices—as well as literature seminars on themes such as “Stein and Wittgenstein” and “The Cinematic Lyric.”

My scholarly work focuses on twentieth-century American poetry, focusing on Modernism as well as contemporary poetry and poetics. Related interests include ekphrasis, lyric genres, and various historical approaches toward the epic. My current creative project is a book-length poem called Voyager.

Courses: Graduate: Beginning Poetry Workshop: Letters to Young Poets; Advanced Poetry Workshop: Viewing & Re-viewing Poetry; The Cinematic Lyric; Advanced Poetry: Service Learning; Advanced Poetry: Writing Practices; Stein & Wittgenstein; The Cantos of Ezra Pound. Undergraduate: Readings in World Literature; Philosophical Perspectives; Beginning Poetry Writing; Introduction to Poetry Writing. Selected Publications: Facts for Visitors: Poems (University of California Press, 2004). “All We Secure of Beauty Is Its Evanescences: Dickinson’s General Theory of Value,” in The Denver Quarterly 39:4 (2005).  “To Explain Grace Requires a Curious Hand: Marianne Moore’s Interdisciplinary Digressions,” in American Literature 77:3 (2005).

Ph.D., Harvard University, 2008.  M.F.A., University of Iowa, 2000.  Teaching at Chicago since 2003.