Denise’s life didn’t begin as an author or a poet, the concept or probability of this being her career, the furthest thing from her mind. She started out doing a Botany degree, the call of nature and native plants a fascination that has lasted throughout the years.
Following on from her degree and post graduate studies, she went travelling with her newly acquired husband of two weeks. That took her on a 12-year journey around the world, from travelling across the US from LA to New York via Greyhound bus, to a two week sojourn to Brazil which lasted 6 months. This was where she fell in love with the Amazon Jungle, a fire in her heart for the most beautiful place on the earth. The Amazon is where her novel The Journey is based. Subsequently their adventure took them to live in London for a year, two years in Spain, two years in Belgium and ended with six years in Chile, the inspiration for her novel Our Angels. They ended the round trip by coming back with three kids in tow, to live in Auckland New Zealand, the location of Denise’s novel, The Night of Fire.
Denise has always been passionate about helping the poor and seeing the poverty in Brazil and Chile daily, inspired her to set up the company World Equity, which donates a percentage from the sale of products to charities in developing countries. From Botanist to traveller, to mother, to philanthropist she is now passionate about story telling and inspired to do so through her novels and poetry.
Denise O'Hagan 