Who is Renae?
My family stretches back to at least three generations of farmers on both my mum and my dad’s side. I spent my formative years, growing up on a property north of Wagga Wagga, NSW that bred cattle and hosted the odd ostrich sale. My childhood was littered with animals – working and house dogs, the odd run in with a brown snake or two, an injured cockatoo, a long neck turtle and later a cockatiel named Harry who called everyone “Gorgeous”. That’s only a handful!
I strongly believe that farm life, and small town living gets under your skin and never actually leaves you.
Currently..
I’m currently living in Queensland, in the Moreton Bay region and I share my home with my
husband, two little bookworms, a never-say-die goldfish (whose name keeps changing on the whims of my 5yr old), three egg-cellent chickens named Ryda, Henny and Lady Cluckit, and three gorgeous dogs. My Australian Red Cattle Dog, Tambah hasn’t left my side in the 11 years that I’ve had her except to play with our black Labrador cross, Bliss (whose personality matches her name) and the baby of our family, six month old Zebby – it’s impossible to get a good photo of all three of them! We also have a giant grey kangaroo who likes to visit our yard for breakfast occasionally, only until the dogs wake up.
By day, I’m a qualified social worker and I’ve spent the last decade working in the child protection industry. By night, I escape to those romantic rural fictional realms of my childhood. My stories are a combination of the exploration of social issues and their impact on communities and individuals in a small town setting all on the journey to finding (or keeping) love.
My writing has taken me on a journey I never thought I’d be on. I’m a member of the Romance
Writers of Australia (RWA), Australian Society of Authors and the Queensland Writers Centre. In
2023, I won the RWA’s Sapphire Award for Best Unpublish Manuscript by a Published Author. I’ve
also been nominated for Favourite Debut Romance Author 2023 through the Australian Romance Readers Association (ARRA). I’ve met some absolutely fantastic people along the way!
“My writing has taken me on a journey I never thought I’d be on”
— Renae Black
Five fun facts about me
- I hate coffee
- If there’s a spider I’ll be running in the other direction
- My favourite week of the year is Shark Week (on the discovery channel)
- I’m geographically and directionally challenged – honestly, don’t follow me anywhere! I get lost in shopping centres all the time.
- I’ve been knee boarding since the age of 3 and water skiing a few years after that
renaeblack.com 