Lytton Smith received his Ph.D. and M.F.A. from Columbia University and has been a member of the Geneseo faculty since 2014. He courses typically focus on the craft and social role of poetry, including Ecopoetics and Justice, Poetry and the Border, and 20th/21st Century Black Poetry Books.
He is the author of five published poetry collections including The Square (New Michigan Press, 2021), While You Were Approaching the Spectacle But Before You Were Transformed By It (Nightboat Books, 2013) and The All-Purpose Magical Tent (Nightboat Books, 2009). In addition to publishing his own work, he has also translated twelve novels and works of nonfiction from the Icelandic. He is a 2019 recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Translation Fellowship.
Classes
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CMRD 101: Comm Read: Sun, Moon, Earth
This course requires students to read and analyze a book selected as the year’s “common reading.” Course assignments connect with other curricular and co-curricular learning opportunities and require weekly brief responses or applications of the reading.
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ENGL 102: Wrtg: Writing Science
The general subtitles offered under the heading “The Elements of Creative Writing” will share the common aim of developing an understanding of the cultural and craft decisions involved in producing creative writing within a particular genre, form, or style of writing, such as the prose poem, the lyric essay, the short-story. This writing-intensive course will ask students to examine models of written creative expression, learn to understand key techniques and aesthetics, and to produce and critique their own and others pieces. As students create new artworks, they will consider the ideological, cultural, and political contexts of creative work.
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ENGL 403: Poetry:Prompt Engineering & AI
Advanced study of poetry focusing on in depth analysis of a topic, issue, genre feature, or single or small group of authors. Course requirements include substantial reading and engagement of relevant critical and theoretical writings. (May be taken twice for credit under different subtitles.) Prerequisites: ENGL 203 or permission of instructor.