The author of three poetry collections, a chapbook of short fiction and the Amazon #1 best seller "You Can Be a Winning Writer" (Mango press) Joan's debut novel, "Extreme" was published by Blue Light Press in July 2020.
Her letters, articles, reviews and poetry have appeared in numerous national and international magazines including The Huffington Post, Los Angeles Review of Books, PANK! Poetry Flash, Rattle, The New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Levure Litteraire and Poets & Writers. Widely anthologized, Joan's poetry and essays are published in numerous literary journals, including: Chicken Soup for the Soul, Meridian Anthology of Contemporary Poetry, Jewish Womens Literary Annual,Kalliope and If Women Ruled the World, an internation
When he was 6, co-author Mark Ukra and his 5-year-old sister Tara huddled at the back of a tiny hallway closet and created a make-believe world based on the love they shared with their amazing grandmother, dog, and stuffed animal friends. In those endless hours in that closet, the siblings' adventures and dreams came to life and their fears disappeared. Now, decades later, the HarperCollins author, together with his sister Tara Mesalik MacMahon, a James Hearst Poetry Prize winning poet, again brings to life the "Closet of Dreams," this time on the page and shared with young readers.
