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WRITER OF POETRY, FICTION, CREATIVE NON-FICTION, AND MEMOIR
Joanne Jagoda was a longtime resident of the Oakland hills, now lives in an active retirement community in Walnut Creek. She was born in San Francisco, and considers herself a true Baby Boomer and a proud first generation American. Joanne’s parents fled Nazi Germany and met in San Francisco. Joanne grew up in the Richmond district near Golden Gate Park and Ocean Beach.
Her writing is informed by being a “San Francisco girl.” She has strong memories of going “downtown” with her mother wearing white gloves and always a dress and spending Sunday afternoons at Playland and the Japanese Tea Garden with her father. Reared in neighborhood schools, Joanne graduated from Washington High School and headed to UC Berkeley where she was a history major. While a college student, she met her future husband Jeff, and it only took a few months for them to decide to get married. They have been married for over fifty years. They raised three daughters who brought them three great son-in-laws and are now enjoying seven terrific grandchildren.
HOW DID IT ALL BEGIN?
Joanne retired in 2009 after working in the family wholesale business for a number of years and a nine-year stint as an administrative director for a synagogue. She had also worked as a volunteer for Jewish organizations taking on various significant leadership positions, including serving as the first woman president of her synagogue.
Upon retirement, Joanne was looking for something completely new and challenging, found a writing class and decided to give it a try. That inspiring workshop in the Amherst method, Lakeshore Writers, facilitated by Teresa Burns Gunther, launched Joanne on an unexpected creative writing trajectory. Besides taking Teresa’s workshops, Joanne worked with Linda Schreyer (of Los Angeles) enjoying her on-line Boot Camps. She has completed a number of the Writer’s Studio (out of New York) on-line classes and has taken many Olli classes including non- fiction essay, children’s literature, memoir, screenwriting and numerous poetry classes. She has worked closely with several noted Bay Area poets. Joanne takes three weekly workshops in memoir and poetry and discovered a new writing workshop in Rossmoor that she really enjoys.
PUBLICATIONS
Her prize-winning poetry, creative non- fiction and short stories appear widely on-line and in more than seventy print anthologies including The Write Launch, Quillkeeper’s Press, Persimmon Tree Magazine, Viewless Wings, Red Noise Collective, Ravens Perch, Breast Cancer Wellness Magazine, numerous Pure Slush publications, Instant Noodles, California Bard, Blood and Thunder:Musings on the Art of Medicine. She has received various awards, is proud of her three Pushcart nominations, and first place in the Gemini Open poetry competition in 2022. Her book, My Runaway Hourglass, was published in 2020 (Poetica Publications, joannejagoda.com).
Her essay on what happened on October 7 in Israel, “A Phone Call in the Afternoon,” appeared in the Jewish Book Council. She had several pieces published recently in “Weaving the Light” in Quillkeeper’s Press.
A note about the photos on this site: Some of the scenic photographs are by Myron Bernstein, a talented photographer, who passed away in 2019. His photographs capture some of the most iconic scenes of San Francisco and Northern California. Myron is the brother of Joanne Jagoda, and the photos are especially meaningful for Joanne. She is delighted to be able to share his work. There are several photos which were taken by Joanne just using her iPhone.
Joanne Jagoda 