Deborah was born in Napier and lives on a rural block in Jervoistown in Taradale with her husband and three sons. She runs a waste disposal company with her husband. In her spare time she writes. Burnside took part in the NZSA mentoring scheme in 2001, working with Tessa Duder. This was the catalyst for her first novel, On a Good Day (2004), published by Penguin NZ. The work was listed as a 2005 Storylines Notable Young Adult Fiction Book and was short listed in the LIANZA awards. 'Sky Fishing', an adult short story was published in the anthology, Hot Ink (Steele Roberts 2002) and a picture-book, An Everyday Sunday, was runner-up in the inaugural Joy Cowley Awards in 2003. Her appreciation of competitions for fostering new writers led to Burnside combining her creative talents with her business acumen and she was instrumental in setting up HB Shorts, a Writing Competition, which has helped discover and encourage new and talented authors in the Region. She departed from fiction in 2005 with, It’s True! This Book Is a Load of Rubbish, which explores facts about rubbish and recycling (Allen & Unwin 2005) and was runner up in the Austrailian Wilderness Awards. Night Hunting (Puffin, 2008) is Burnside's first junior fiction book, and tells the story of a young boy who is finally old enough to go hunting with family friend, Rotorua Bill. The work was listed as a 2009 Storylines Notable Junior Fiction Book. Her newest Young Adult novel, YES was released in November 2011 by Harper Collins NZ and was a finalist in the New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards in 2012.