Joanna has a background in journalism and communications, and has written for The Times and The Guardian. She has a PhD in Creative Writing and regularly teaches creative writing. Her short fiction has been shortlisted for The White Review Prize, the Bridport Prize, the Bristol Short Story Prize, and published by Comma Press. She lives in Dorset and her agent is Clare Alexander at Aitken Alexander.
Joanna Quinn was born in London and grew up in Dorset, where her first novel The Whalebone Theatre is set.
The Whalebone Theatre was published by Fig Tree in the UK in June 2022 and by Knopf in the US in October 2022, and was an instant bestseller in both countries.
The novel was a 'Read With Jenna' pick and was chosen by HM Queen Camilla for her book club The Reading Room. It was shortlisted for Best Debut Fiction at the British Book Awards, The Authors' Club Best First Novel award, The Society of Authors McKitterick Prize and The Winston Graham Prize for Historical Fiction. It was Waterstones Book of the Month in August 2023 and named as a Book of the Year by The New York Times, The Washington Post, Amazon, The Times and Red magazine It has also been sold into 14 territories worldwide, including France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Holland and Denmark.