Hello, I'm Danielle, I've been crafting stories — mainly about people — for as long as I can remember. My work is published in various magazines and literary journals and has been nominated for the Sargeson Prize and the Michael Gifkins Text Prize. I’m currently completing an MA at the University of Victoria.

The seed for Legacy Narratives was planted during a writer’s conference in California. While listening to the “work stories” of a death doula, a friend leaned over and asked whether I’d ever considered branching out from journalism and literary journals to writing people’s life stories. The goal of Legacy Narratives is to capture and preserve the stories of those special people in our lives.

A little backstory…

My mother and I were inseparable — in other words, I had a firm grasp and her patience was inordinate. She raised me and my siblings in the heart of Auckland, and her parenting style can be characterised by ‘intentionality;’ a quality I now strive for with my three sons.

When I was twenty-three, she told me she would die within two years. The cancer had already spread from her oesophagus to her liver.

Several months after her funeral (2014), questions I had for her kept popping into my mind: “Who did you live with in London, again?” “Which person from your life was most influential?”

It was already too late, of course.

My children (unfamiliar with my late mother) continue to ask about this mysterious person who categorically transformed my life. I have only few answers for them. Still, I continue to write about her. An essay about my mother can be viewed here.

Today, I craft narratives into beautifully-designed books that portray the unforgettable moments in our lives — anniversaries, birthdays, weddings, and of course, the passing of those we love most.