Joanne Zienty was the first winner of the Soon to Be Famous Illinois Author Project in 2014. Born and raised on Chicago's South Side, Joanne Zienty vividly remembers the “glow of industry” that lit the night sky with an orange haze and can still summon the acrid odor of the fumes of coke ovens and blast furnaces, although the steel mills have been shuttered for decades. Joanne's first success as a writer came in 5th grade, when she completed a 70 page novel, which was, admittedly, highly derivative of the Walter Farley Black Stallion series, and had her first play – a Thanksgiving drama – produced on the stage of her elementary school. As an undergrad at the University of Chicago, Joanne had the pleasure of dropping, along with half of the other students in the class, a creative writing course taught by Richard Stern, after he threatened on the first day to rip everyone all a new one, metaphorically speaking, and woe unto students concerned about their GPAs. Well, who wasn’t? But that didn't stop her from continuing to write, because sometimes, if you want to read a story, you have to write it yourself! Joanne has honed her craft in writing classes offered by Molly Ramanujan Daniels through the University of Chicago’s Graham School and her Clothesline School of Fiction. Several pieces written and performed for these classes formed the early chapters of her first novel. Joanne lives in Wheaton, Illinois with her very supportive husband, and a naughty cat. Here's a link to the Kirkus Review for her debut novel, The Things We Save: http://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-rev... And one for her just released dystopian novel, Children of the Revolution: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-re...