I am a writer in Portland, Oregon where I live with my wife and daughter. I was born in rural Missouri. My writing has appeared in journals such as The Bear Deluxe, Beltway Poetry Quarterly, Beyond Queer Words,  The Blue Mountain Review, Ran Off With the Star Bassoon, Spoon River Poetry Review, Valley Voices, and elsewhere. Awards include Arts and Letters Creative Nonfiction Finalist; Honorable Mention in the 2019 Spoon River Poetry Review Editors’ Prize Contest; and second place in the 2020 Blue Mountain Review LGBTQ Chapbook Contest, among others. My debut chapbook Mother Kingdom won the 2021 Slapering Hol Chapbook Contest and was an award-winning finalist in the Poetry: Chapbook Category of the 2022 International Book Awards.

Mother Kingdom is available for online purchase through Slapering Hol Press, the small press imprint of the Hudson Valley Writers Center. If you are in the Portland area, you can also find it in store at Broadway Books and Powell’s Books Downtown. It is available to borrow through Multnomah County Library.

A former book editor, I have worked at the public library for nearly fifteen years. I am honored to be a Season 16 Mentee in the AWP Writer to Writer Mentorship Program, paired with the poet Alexa Doran. You can find me on Twitter @drelo and on Instagram @andrea.deeken. 

Credit: Painting by Susannah Bleasby.