Danielle Ducrest grew up in Broussard, Louisiana, where Cajun culture and American culture often blend together. She thought everyone celebrated Mardi Gras until she learned the truth at age 8. Her childhood love of Legos – small toys used to create something bigger – eventually transitioned into her love of beads as an adult – an expensive habit that can make pricey Legos look cheap. Her love of writing also began young, and her interest continued into middle school and high school through stories she shared with anyone willing to read them.
After a year back home in Louisiana, Danielle relocated to San Marcos, Texas, for her Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing. She continued to submit fantasy stories to writing workshops. Her graduate thesis was a young adult fantasy novel about sorcerers who would lose their magical abilities as they entered adulthood. While in Texas, Danielle worked for three literary journals connected to Texas State University. She was the Webmaster for Front Porch, and she was the Book Placement Co-Manager for Southwestern American Literature and Texas Books in Review. |
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Between 2014 and 2019, Danielle wrote features for magazines, literary journals and more periodicals in Texas and Louisiana. Her fan fiction, published between the ages of 13 and 31, can be found online.
Nowadays, Danielle is a library employee. She has scandalized her older Texan cat by adding a rambunctious, younger Cajun cat to their home.
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After high school, Danielle became an ex-patriate Cajun in Florida. Most students at Eckerd College came from elsewhere, which led to some culture clashes. When a professor asked a class to write about their first snow, Danielle asked if she could write about her first hurricane instead. 99% of the stories she submitted to workshops were fantasy stories, much to the chagrin of professors who didn’t appreciate the genre. In 2008, she graduated with a BA in Creative Writing. Her thesis was a novella about a family split up via court-order-supported time travel.
In 2012, Danielle moved back to Louisiana, this time with a Texan cat. In 2014 and 2015, Danielle interned at the Acadiana Gazette and at Overture. The Overture internship transitioned into a job as the magazine's Assistant Editor. Danielle held this position until the magazine closed its doors in 2016. Her next venture into publishing came at TravelHost South Louisiana. She served as the Multimedia Manager on social media and as the Production Assistant on the print magazine.
From 2009 to 2019 and now again in 2024, Danielle has displayed her