Poetic Sustenance: Jon Andersen and Denise Abercrombie

Denise Abercrombie (UConn B.S. ’86, B.A. ’87) teaches creative writing, theater, and American literature and serves as English department head at E.O. Smith High School in Storrs, Connecticut.

She has also taught Creative Writing and Expressive Writing in Performance at the University of Connecticut and Quinebaug Valley Community College. Her writing has appeared in Minnesota Review, Fireweed, Connecticut Review, Phoebe: Journal of Feminist Scholarship, Theory and Aesthetics, Writing on the Edge, and other journals.

She was a featured reader at the 49th International Poetry Festival in Belgrade (2012) and Smederevo’s Poetry Autumn (2014). Denise performs and occasionally directs original and existing works with Stage Left Ensemble in small theaters, cafes, and prisons. She lives with her husband, Jonathan Andersen, and their two sons in Storrs.

Jonathan Andersen (UConn B.A. ’92, M.A. ’12) is the author of Stomp and Sing (Curbstone/ Northwestern University Press 2005) and The Burden Note (Smederevo 2014), a bilingual (English/ Serbo-Croatian) collection of poems.

He is also the editor of the anthology Seeds of Fire: Contemporary Poetry from the Other U.S.A. (Smokestack Books 2008). His poems have appeared in English Journal, Freshwater, Rattle, The Progressive, and other journals.

He has been a featured reader in the Ledbury and Southwell Poetry Festivals in the United Kingdom, the 49th International Poetry Festival in Belgrade, and Smederevo’s Poetry Autumn in 2014.

Andersen is an Associate Professor of English at Quinebaug Valley Community College in Danielson and Willimantic, and lives with his wife, Denise Abercombie, and their two sons in Storrs.

Poetic Sustenance is a project of the Creative Writing Program to support the Covenant Soup Kitchen. Now more than ever, with winter coming, the Soup Kitchen needs your help. Generous donations are encouraged.