Doreen Clarke received only an elementary education. A visit to the theatre, when she saw The Merchant of Venice at the age of ten, moved her deeply. She left school at 14 and worked in the cotton mills and factories of war-time England, composing stories in her head to escape the monotony of the work.
She emigrated to SA in 1958 with her husband Fred, a butcher, and raised four sons. She began writing short stories, and had some accepted by the Chronicle, the News and New Idea. She wrote a few sketches for Lionel Williams and Kevin Crease, for their "Tonight" show.
In 1976 she won two tickets to the theatre and decided that she too could write a play. She wrote a small piece of drama which was accepted by Radio 5UV (it never actually got to air) then wrote her first full-length play. Her third play, Roses in Due Season, was produced in 1978, in Adelaide. Since then she has had plays produced all around Australia, and has been Writer-in-Residence with the State Theatre Co of SA (1981), City of Elizabeth, SA (1982), Corrugated Iron Youth Theatre, NT (1985), Junction Theatre Co, SA (1985), Riverland Youth Theatre, Renmark, SA (1986), the Newcastle, NSW, Bicentennial Committee (1988) and Terrapin Puppet Theatre, Hobart (1988), working in community theatre and youth theatre and conducting writing workshops. More than 24 of her community-theatre plays have been performed and she has had eight plays performed professionally. She was nominated for an AWGIE Award, 1982, and received a Literature Board Fellowship, 1983.
