Dene Hellman was born and raised in central Iowa, the daughter of a hobo/painter whose oil paintings rose ceiling high by the time Dene graduated from high school, and a schoolteacher mother who gardened, canned and baked the family's way through the Great Depression.

After receiving an education degree at the University of Northern Iowa, Dene married a fellow teacher. Within fifteen years she gave birth to Annie, Patty, Kate and Jean. Later, she married a German Holocaust survivor, obtained a B.A. at the University of Wisconsin Green Bay, and embarked on a career of award winning writing and editing. Spawning to the Appalachian Mountain vicinity of Asheville-Hendersonville, she discovered that, through her paternal grandmother, she could trace her Carolina heritage to the early 1700s.

Chasing causes she believes in has been a longtime occupation. During the 70s, Dene was a leader in the Women's Rights movement in Wisconsin. Today, in addition to writing and editing, she is active in a literacy group and an arts and heritage organization. In her spare time, she is an enthusiastic gardener and thrives in the midst of a lush mixture of trees, flowers and weeds.

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