About Joanne

The Lost Historian

‍Welcome. I’m Joanne – a writer and researcher who has spent twenty years inventing new ways to engage with lost histories.

When the historical record falls silent, I love how tiny things – a hand-drawn skull and crossbones, a wedding ring, a portrait miniature – can make the past seem close enough to touch. I listen to the whisper of objects.

My fiction, poetry and films have received international recognition. My debut novel, Dancing on Knives, was nominated for the Booker Prize, and my second novel, The Girl in the Locket, will be published by Ravenna Press in 2027. Inspired by my research on Black Tudor history and my time working at the V&A, it imagines a portrait of someone whose face never appears on our gallery walls.

As a teacher, I’m fascinated by how our shared heritage inspires our creativity. I give talks and run workshops for cultural organisations, universities and schools - I’ve led writing classes everywhere from the medieval cloisters of Magdalen College, Oxford, to the ancient canyons of the Wadi Rum desert in Jordan. Behind all my work is a simple invitation: come and get lost in history with me.

Away from the page, I’m most often found in gardens, woods and cobbled lanes. I think heaven is a second-hand bookshop.