They are Hi, I’m Dettra Rose.
I grew up in the heart of London with the pigeons, regal buildings, glum state housing and the creative pulse that is the bone marrow of my home city.

In London, I worked in community services with kids who struggled to belong in the education system. I co-managed a homeless family’s project in a once grand but crumbling King’s Cross hotel. I then retrained as an adult education teacher and taught English to refugees and travellers from far-flung lands.

In my mid-thirties, I left London with a hangover and a rucksack full of teaching experience and went travelling. When I touched down in Australia and sank my jet-lagged feet into sandy soil, I found my second home and started to grow new roots.

I lived in Fremantle, Western Australia, trained in complementary therapies and worked with people one-on-one and in groups. I met my partner on the dancefloor at a New Year’s Eve party. We moved to the east coast of Australia – Melbourne, Sydney, then Byron Bay. I stared writing a book.

Then the unimaginable happened.

In April 2016, my fit, healthy partner had a massive stroke. He lost every word, both spoken and written, was paralysed on his right side and couldn’t walk. Overnight, I became his primary caregiver.

I wrote an article for elephant journal about the experience:  When the unimaginable happens and life goes into freefall.

His recovery is taking time, and patience. Canyons, rivers, and mountains of patience. He gave up a gazillion times and so did I. In one of the bleakest years that followed his stroke, I saw a Flash Fiction competition on The Australian Writers’ website. I had no clue what Flash was, but I wrote a 300-word story. To my shock and delight, I won! That lifted me more than I have room to say. My love affair with Flash began.

We live near Byron Bay, on the east coast of Australia, with our dog and cat, a few pythons and a bunch of bush turkeys. It’s banana country. Tall palms whisper their secrets to heaven, and ear-splitting thunder scares me witless when the summer clouds collide. It’s a very far cry from the six-lane traffic I grew up next to, and the high-rise flat I watched the world from. I visit London as much as possible. I will always belong to two hemispheres.

PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS
BA (Hons) Applied Social Science North London Uni.
Bachelor of Education University of London. 

I’d like to acknowledge the First Nations people of Australia as the original guardians of the land, rocks, mountains, animals, and water. They are also our first storytellers. The Dreamtime stories speak to the deep bonds between people, nature, and ancestral spirits. Whether we know it or not, I imagine these stories have tiptoed into everyone living here.