Rene Denfeld is the award-winning, bestselling author of four novels, The Enchanted, The Child Finder, The Butterfly Girl, and the forthcoming Sleeping Giants. Her writing has been praised by Margaret Atwood as "astonishing."

Rene's novels are influenced by her work as a licensed death row investigator. She is the past Chief Investigator for a public defenders and has worked hundreds of cases, including exonerations and helping rape trafficking victims. The survivor of a difficult background, Rene regularly speaks on social justice issues, as well as writing and overcoming trauma.

 

In 2017 The New York Times named Rene a hero of the year and she was awarded the Break The Silence Award in Washington, DC. Her novels have received many prestigious literary awards, including a French Prix, an ALA Medal for Excellence in Fiction, a Carnegie Listing, a listing for the International Dublin Literary Award, and she was a finalist for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize. She lives in Portland, Oregon, where she is the happy parent of kids from foster care.

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To read Rene's viral Modern Love story in The New York Times , read HERE

 

To read an interview with Rene, read HERE. 

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photos by Brian McDonnell