The O of Wonder: A Syzygy

The poet and scholar Srikanth Reddy will deliver a lecture about wonder in the poetry of Homer, Milton, and Ronald Johnson.

Srikanth Reddy grew up in Chicago. He earned a B.A. from Harvard College, an MFA in creative writing from the University of Iowa, and a Ph.D. in English literature from Harvard University. He is the author of the poetry collections Underworld Lit (Wave Books, 2020), Voyager (University of California Press, 2011), and Facts for Visitors (University of California Press, 2004) and a book of literary criticism, Changing Subjects: Digressions in Modern American Poetry (Oxford University Press, 2012).

Underworld Lit was a finalist for the Griffin International Poetry Prize and the Four Quartets Prize and was a 2020 Times Literary Supplement Book of the Year. Reddy’s previous book, Voyager, was named one of the best books of poetry of 2011 by The New Yorker, The Believer, and National Public Radio. His first collection, Facts for Visitors, won the 2005 Asian American Literary Award for poetry.

Reddy was a guest editor for the March, April, and May 2022 issues of Poetry magazine and currently serves as poetry editor of The Paris Review. His poetry and criticism have appeared in Harper’s, The Guardian (UK), The New Republic, The New York Times, and other publications. In fall 2015, he delivered the Bagley Wright Lectures in Poetry. The recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, Creative Capital, and the National Endowment for the Arts, Reddy is a professor of English and creative writing at the University of Chicago, where he edits the Phoenix Poets book series at the University of Chicago Press.

Supported by the Bain-Swiggett Fund, Department of English.