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Reggie Scott Young
I am the author of the poetry collection Yardbirds Squawking at the Moon (Louisiana Literature Press). In addition to poetry, I also publish works of fiction and creative nonfiction.
I spent my early years in Chicago where I participated in a writers’ group with lifelong friend Sandra Cisneros. I attended graduate school at the University of Illinois at Chicago and earned a PhD in creative writing. My dissertation was a multi-genre novel titled Crimes in Bluesville. Several chapters of the novel were published as chapbooks and in magazines and journals. I worked in higher education at schools such as Villanova, LSU, Wheaton College, and the University of Louisiana. During my academic career, I published scholarly articles and essays in addition to creative works, including as co-editor of Mozart and Leadbelly: Stories and Essays (Knopf), of which I wrote the volume’s introduction. While at the University of Louisiana, I became a member of San Antonio’s Macondo Workshop and began to make regular visits to San Antonio to participate in Macondo activities. After I left higher education to focus exclusively on my creative activities, I decided to make San Antonio my home.
As a San Antonio writer, I have published fiction in publications such as riverSedge, Chicago Quarterly Review, and Voices de la Luna, nonfiction in Another Chicago Magazine and Taint Taint Taint, and new poetry in Evergreen Review. My novella-length memoir, Son of a Natural Man, appears in the Winter ... view more »
MORE ABOUT THIS ARTIST
Artist Type: Literary Arts: Author/Writer, Poet; Teaching Artist/Instructor
Artist Statement of Work
Tell us about your work (style, approach, philosophy, subject and/or theme):
I write in each literary genre, although I am presently focused on creative prose—fiction and creative nonfiction.
I am currently working on edits for a memoir titled “Son of a Natural Man” that will appear in the fall 2025 issue of Evergreen Review. I am also in the process of completing a book of selected personal essays and a collection of short stories for publication. Most of the works in the two volumes have already appeared in magazines and journals. Each work will be revised to make them better fit in book publications.
I once described myself as an urban realist, which few people seemed to understand. But I am the product of American cities. I spent time living in rural areas and small college towns during my career in higher education, but unlike writers from those kinds of environments who often focus of issues related to place in relationship to their region's land, I have always focused on city folks, and I have twice taught workshops titled "City Songs."