Francesca Rendle-Short migrated to Australia with her family at the age of one year, the fifth of sixth children. The family settled in Brisbane. Rendle-Short studied at the University of New England before moving to Adelaide and later to Canberra. She has worked in radio, education and publishing. Her novella, Big Sister, was published in 1989 by Redress Press, and her short stories have been published in various literary journals. Her creative non-fiction has also been published in a number of journals.
Rendle-Short was a member of the ACT Cultural Council, Chair of the Literature Peer Committee and ACT Book of the Year from 2002-2006. She has been a lecturer in the Creative Writing program at the University of Canberra, and was awarded the Vice-Chancellor's Distinction Award for Teaching and Learning in February 2005.
Rendle-Short was appointed to manage a new undergraduate creative writing course at RMIT, Melbourne, Victoria, from January 2009.
