Joe Chianakas

Joe Chianakas is an award-winning author, professor, speaker, and LGBTQIA+ advocate whose work features outsiders who fight back.

A multi-time Professor of the Year recipient, Joe has built his career around helping students find their voices and recognize the power of their stories. He teaches communication and writing, bringing the same energy, empathy, and belief in outsiders to both the classroom and the page.

Joe is the author of the horror novels Darkness Calls and Rabbit in Red, as well as the young adult novels Singlets and Secrets and Pride and Persistence, the first two books in the Unveiling Aiden series. Blending martial arts, romance, coming-of-age drama, and LGBTQIA+ representation, Unveiling Aiden follows young people learning to stand up for themselves and others.

Darkness Calls won the 2026 Imadjinn Award for Best Horror Novel. The atmospheric Midwestern horror story explores grief, memory, and childhood fears. Pride and Persistence was also named a finalist for the 2025 Imaginarium Award for Best Young Adult Novel.

In 2025, Joe received the River City Pride Arts & Entertainment Award, recognizing his contributions to LGBTQIA+ visibility, representation, and the arts.

Joe made his national television debut on The Whitney Reynolds Show, an Emmy-nominated program devoted to stories of hope, courage, and transformation. His work as an author, educator, speaker, and advocate centers on one guiding idea: stories can help people feel seen, find strength, and fight back against the forces that try to silence them.

Joe is represented by Amy Brewer of Metamorphosis Literary Agency and has publishing contracts with Roan & Weatherford. He lives in Peoria, Illinois, with his husband, Brian, and their mini Australian Shepherd, Bailey, who remains, according to Joe, the best dog in the world.

Readers can follow Joe on social media for book news, events, media appearances, behind-the-scenes updates, and future releases.