Joan Axelrod-Contrada
Joan Axelrod-Contrada
Author of Books for Children and Teens​
Author of Books for Children and Teens​
ABOUT ME:
ABOUT ME:
Joan Axelrod-Contrada is the author of over 20 books for young people. In addition to SIZZLE, her teen pregnancy novel, she has written nonfiction books for the school and library market about everything from famous court cases to mummies, zombies, and
ghosts. For a full list of her books, click here.
In high school, Joan discovered journalism, which was her saving grace. Interviewing people helped her forget about her own
problems. That's her on her graduation day (below).
Joan balances writing articles and essays for adults with books for children and young adults. The Boston Globe published an essay about her cross-cultural experiences in Jamaica. Check it out by clicking here.
She is also a 2015 graduate of the MFA program in Writing for Children and Young Adults at Vermont College of Fine Arts. That's her on the left below with the big smile.
A strong advocate of expressive writing, Joan founded an online literary magazine, WriteAngles Journal, which publishes flash fiction and memoir of writers affiliated with the WriteAngles Conference of Western Massachusetts, which she helps organize. Joan leads workshops in flash memoir,
the 500-word personal essay.
Joan lives in Western Massachusetts and is training her rescue mutt, Desi, to be a therapy dog. When she's not writing, she likes to travel, wear funky jewelry, eat spicy food, and go to music festivals.