Underworld Lit

Srikanth Reddy’s poetry collection Underworld Lit (2020) is a Dante-inspired journey through the academic calendar, with three terms taking the place of Dante’s three parts of the Divine Comedy. Described as a “multiverse quest through various cultures’ realms of the dead,” Underworld Lit opens with a semi-autobiographical account of Reddy’s struggle with a cancer diagnosis during his battle for tenure at his university.

This clip—read by Reddy at the International Poetry Forum in April 2025—comes from an early “canto” in which the protagonist clashes with one of his students, dismissing her claims about heaven and hell. Shortly thereafter, the professor is taken down on his own journey to the underworld, encountering an amalgam of Dantean, Mayan, Egyptian, Chinese, Indian, and other figures from the afterlife.

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[International Poetry Forum, 2024. All works c. authors; all rights reserved.]

Видео Underworld Lit канала International Poetry Forum