ABOUT THE AUTHOR-Joni Marie Iraci

In the 1970s, Joni Iraci worked as a staff and charge R.N. in a northern New Jersey hospital, before moving to New York City where she worked as a night nurse on the breast and bone oncology unit at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. She subsequently made a life changing career move when she accepted an offer to work as a staff nurse on the EENT (eye, ear, nose, throat) and plastic surgery unit at Lenox Hill Hospital. It was there where she met her husband, who was a surgical intern at that time. They married and relocated to Pittsburgh for one year to do a critical care fellowship. Returning to New York, Joni helped her husband with his surgical practice and raised three children. Once the nest was semi-empty, Joni returned to school to pursue her life-long dream of becoming a writer. In 2013, at the age of 60, she earned a BA in liberal studies with a concentration in writing and literature from Sarah Lawrence College; in 2017, she earned an MFA in creative writing from Columbia University. She is a fiction writer. After publishing several short stories in literary journals, her debut novel, ”Reinventing Jenna Rose,” was published in May 2019. It has received favorable reviews on Amazon, Kirkus, Goodreads, and Glassworks. It recently won The Firebird Book Award-first place in two categories. She gave a talk to the Rotary Club in Rye, NY. where she discussed her journey as an adult returning to school and the trials and tribulations of publishing in your later years. She was invited to talk at Shakespeare and Company and The Strand bookstore in New York City. Along with Hollywood Historian and author, Tom Santopietro, she gave an in-conversation talk which can be found on youtube.com. She is a retired R.N. who has completed a novella, has completed her second novel, “Vatican Daughter,” which is being considered by several traditional publishers. She is vehemently working on its sequel and tending to her rescued animals. Joni Marie Iraci welcomes emails from readers and is available for speaking engagements be it in relation to her work or the joys and angst of returning to college in one’s older years. She works as a freelancer helping high school students who are struggling with their college essays.
Jmi10805@gmail.com or jmi2118@columbia.edu
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