Joanne is the internationally bestselling author of 15 books, including Secret Mothers' Business, Things Without a Name, and Your Story: how to write it so others will want to read it. Her books have been translated into many different languages and have sold close to 750 000 copies worldwide.Born in Apartheid South Africa, she was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to study law at Yale, was a law lecturer and a volunteer legal counsellor at People Opposing Women Abuse (POWA) before setting up and running a legal advocacy centre to end violence against women. She was appointed by the then Minister for Justice to sit on a project committee of the Law Commission to design new domestic violence legislation.In 1996 Joanne was awarded a residency at Hedgebrook Women's Writer's Colony in Seattle where she began to write her first novel, The Dreamcloth (2005, Jacana Media). Other awards include Asshole of the Month, a title she was proud to accept from Hustler magazine in 1995 for her advocacy work around gender equality and the rights of all people to be free from violence.She runs writing retreats for women all over the world and online writing courses including her signature Author Awakening Adventure and Write Your First Draft Masterclass. In 2017, she set up her own publishing company Joanne Fedler Media to publish the stories of the writers she has mentored. She hopes to keep bringing these stories into the world.Someday she hopes to set up a writer's colony, grow her own vegetables, own five cats and live in a place where she will never be stuck in traffic.Connect with Joanne on social media or join her mailing list here: www.joannefedler.com