Connie Deanovich

Poet Connie Deanovich grew up in Chicago, and earned a BA at Columbia College Chicago and an MA at DePaul University. Influenced by Ted Berrigan and Gertrude Stein, Deanovich composes playful yet formally ambitious elegiac poems that engage themes of connection, sexuality, and time. In an interview with the blog Here Comes Everybody, Deanovich, asked how she would explain what a poem is to a seven-year-old, replied, “I would say words have secrets and special powers. … [I]t is a poet’s job to discover these secrets and powers. … A poet puts words together so the secrets and powers can be revealed to anyone who reads the poems.”

Deanovich’s poetry collections include Zombie Jet (2000) and Watusi Titanic (1996). Her poetry has been featured in several anthologies, including American Poetry: The Next Generation (2000) and Walk on the Wild Side: Urban American Poetry Since 1975 (1994). Deanovich’s honors include a Whiting Writers’ Award, a GE Award for Younger Writers, and a Project for Innovative Poetry (PIP) Gertrude Stein Award for Innovative Poetry in English.

She lives in Madison, Wisconsin.