My Story
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I’m Joanne, a writer and final-year PhD researcher in Literary Practice at Trinity College Dublin, where I’m completing a memoir and a critical thesis on memoir as a genre and a heuristic tool for working through trauma. I write to make sense of the past, to trace the quiet moments that shaped me, and to explore how memory and language intertwine.
My work frequently revisits themes of resilience, belonging, and the unspoken threads that connect family and place. I also hold an MA in Writing from the University of Galway and a BA (Hons) in Social Care Practice, and I’m currently studying for an MSc in Library and Information Practice at Ulster University. I’m passionate about the relationship between storytelling and access to knowledge—how both can offer connection, understanding, and, sometimes, a kind of repair.
Various awards and publications have recognised my creative and academic work.
In 2024, I won the Write by the Sea (Memoir) Competition, and my winning piece was published in The Waxed Lemon. I was also shortlisted for the Christy Nolan ‘Perseverance Through Words’ Prize at Trinity College Dublin for a separate work. My writing has been featured in literary journals, including The Stinging Fly, Tir na nOg, and Olney Magazine, and my lightning paper was selected for presentation at the Joint LAI/CILIP Conference in 2025.