Joan Spilman

Joan holds an MFA from Wichita State University, where she was awarded a fellowship. She is the author of This Will Never Stop, narrated by four generations of Appalachian women, of which Kirkus Reviews said, “Spilman’s textured prose masterfully evokes the hard-knock lives and locales of these women. A highly readable and adeptly crafted addition to the literature of Appalachia.” Her short novella, The Establishing Witness, won both the George Garrett Prize for Fiction at Western Washington University and the Mikrokosmos Fiction Prize at Wichita State. Sansablatt Head, a young adult novel, was given a five-star review by Kirkus Reviews, which called it “a masterfully woven adventure, likely to leave fantasy lovers in awe.” She has published in The Laurel Review, The Carriage House Review, The Southern Humanities Review, Willow Springs and many others. She has received a PEN syndicated fiction award, judged by Jayne Anne Phillips. Joan has also written books for young readers about zombie ducks under the general title The Waddling Dead. She is currently working on a sequel to This Will Never Stop entitled The Mortician’s Granddaughter.