Joan Gelfand

Joan Gelfand is an author, poet, and literary critic whose recent memoir, Outside Voices: A Memoir of the Berkeley Revolution, has won the New York City Big Book Award and the International Book Award. The book offers an intimate portrait of Berkeley in 1972 and the transformative power of the women's movement.

Her novel Extreme, a finalist for the International Book Award, tells the story of a Silicon Valley startup.

Gelfand has published three poetry collections: The Long Blue Room, A Dreamer's Guide to Cities and Streams, and Seeking Center, showcasing her range as a poet and writer. Her poetry has been featured internationally, with The Ferlinghetti School of Poetics—a poetry film based on her work—screening at twenty international film festivals including Cannes and London. The film also earned a Certificate of Merit from the International Association for the Study of Dreams.

Joan has won twenty-five writing awards including the Effie Lee Morris Prize for Poetry, The Red Room Authors Award, The Chaffin Fiction Award, and others.

Joan’s essays and reviews have been published widely including in Chicken Soup for the Soul: Dreams and the Unexplainable and Chicken Soup for the Soul: Dreams and Premonitions, the Huffington Post, LA Review of Books, San Francisco Chronicle, and the art magazine PANK!

For the past decade, Gelfand has been a sought-after writing coach and instructor, teaching at book festivals and writers’ conferences. Her book and workshop, both titled You Can Be a Winning Writer, have helped countless writers develop their craft.

A former President of the Women’s National Book Association, Gelfand founded and chaired its National Writing Contest. Gelfand is an active member of the National Book Critics Circle and is listed in Who’s Who in America.

She lives in San Francisco with her husband, Adam Hertz.