Not Your Average Jo...
Joanne Zienty: Librarian, Writer and winner of the Soon to Be Famous Illinois Author Project
Born and raised on Chicago's South Side, Joanne Zienty vividly remembers the “glow of industry” that lit the night sky with an orange haze and can still summon the acrid odor of the fumes of coke ovens and blast furnaces, although the steel mills have been shuttered for decades.
Joanne spent a lot of time wandering the aisles of her local branch of the Chicago Public Library. Besides wandering, she also did a lot of reading. But when she couldn't find the stories she wanted to read, she started writing her own. Joanne's first success as a writer came in 5th grade, when she completed a 70 page novel - an homage to Walter Farley's Black Stallion series - and had her first play – a Thanksgiving melodrama – produced on the stage of her elementary school.
She's been writing ever since.
Joanne spent a lot of time wandering the aisles of her local branch of the Chicago Public Library. Besides wandering, she also did a lot of reading. But when she couldn't find the stories she wanted to read, she started writing her own. Joanne's first success as a writer came in 5th grade, when she completed a 70 page novel - an homage to Walter Farley's Black Stallion series - and had her first play – a Thanksgiving melodrama – produced on the stage of her elementary school.
She's been writing ever since.
The Write Stuff?
As an undergrad at the University of Chicago, Joanne had the pleasure of dropping, along with half of the other students in the class, a creative writing course taught by Richard Stern, after he threatened on the first day to rip everyone a new one, metaphorically speaking, and woe unto students concerned about their GPAs. Well, who wasn’t?
Joanne did a stint as a department manager and network administrator for a downtown law firm, where she earned a reputation as a bit of a tech geek, then enjoyed a lovely sojourn as a stay-at-home mom. During this time, Joanne earned her teaching certificate from Roosevelt University and a Master’s in Library and Information Science from Dominican University. Joanne is now an elementary school library director, which allows her to combine three of her favorite things: reading, encouraging others to read, teaching information literacy, and keeping up with her tech geek skills.
And yes, Joanne still writes, too! She's honed her craft in writing classes offered by Molly Ramanujan Daniels through the University of Chicago’s Graham School and her Clothesline School of Fiction. Several pieces written and performed for these classes formed the early chapters of her first novel, The Things We Save.
Joanne lives in a western suburb of Chicago with her very supportive husband and a very naughty cat named Maggie May.
Joanne did a stint as a department manager and network administrator for a downtown law firm, where she earned a reputation as a bit of a tech geek, then enjoyed a lovely sojourn as a stay-at-home mom. During this time, Joanne earned her teaching certificate from Roosevelt University and a Master’s in Library and Information Science from Dominican University. Joanne is now an elementary school library director, which allows her to combine three of her favorite things: reading, encouraging others to read, teaching information literacy, and keeping up with her tech geek skills.
And yes, Joanne still writes, too! She's honed her craft in writing classes offered by Molly Ramanujan Daniels through the University of Chicago’s Graham School and her Clothesline School of Fiction. Several pieces written and performed for these classes formed the early chapters of her first novel, The Things We Save.
Joanne lives in a western suburb of Chicago with her very supportive husband and a very naughty cat named Maggie May.
