About

Denise Newton lives in the beautiful Blue Mountains of New South Wales, Australia – lands of the Dharug and Gundungurra nations. She has written a memoir, short stories and poems, and is currently working on her first novel: historical fiction inspired by real life characters from her own family history. She is fascinated by history and the way we are shaped by the places and times in which we live.

Denise’s short story The Bitterness of their Woe won first prize in the 2021 E.M.Fletcher Writing Award. The judges commented:

Compelling and powerful. The expert fusing of facts and drama gives this story both authenticity and immediacy.

Judge’s comment on ‘The Bitterness of their Woe’, winner of 2021 EM Fletcher Award.

Another story, The Wrong Mother, placed second in the 2021 ‘Positive Words’ journal prize and Warm Tea and Tears won this competition in 2020. The flash fiction story, Tap, Tap was commended in the Australian Writers’ Centre ‘Furious Fiction’ competition in 2019. Denise has had several pieces published in Western Sydney New Writers’ Group ZineWest magazines (2019, 2020 and 2021) and in fourWpress fourW Thirty New Writing (2019).