Denise Smith Cline grew up in a textile town in Upstate South Carolina before the world got so complicated. The youngest of five spirited siblings, Denise realized early on that to survive, she’d need to master the dual arts of watchfulness and eavesdropping. A shy kid, she buried her face in books and found a few fine friends for company until college offered an escape from the comfortable terrors of small-town life.
Denise started her writing career as a newspaper reporter fresh out of Davidson College. In addition to writing obituaries and stories about sewer bonds, she snagged an assignment covering a six-week murder trial involving a fire and the tiniest hint of insurance fraud. That trial and a naturally argumentative disposition diverted her to law school at UNC Chapel Hill, a legal career and the intricate balance of practicing law and raising twins.
There wasn’t a lot of spare time in the early years, but Denise kept reading and writing, mostly short stories, and essays, then a novel, then two. In her writing, she is always drawn to characters who find dignity and meaning in what seems impossible, who can see the shiny bits in what looks to everyone else like rubble.
Denise’s short story “Plow Under” garnered a Pushcart nomination, and her non-fiction has won prizes from Carolina Woman, Salem College’s International Literary Contest, and the Annual Carteret Writers’ Contest. Her work has appeared in Prime Number Magazine, Carolina Woman, The Shoal, the News & Observer and Mamalode.
Denise still practices employment law in the firm she founded in Raleigh, North Carolina. She still reads constantly and has an abiding interest in people from big families and small places. When she’s not working, reading, or writing, she loves good conversations with her beloved family and friends, singing in a choir, cycling, and eavesdropping.
Denise is delighted to announce that Regal House Publishing will publish her novel The Resettlement of Vesta Blonik as a part of its Frontlist in Fall 2025.
