JoAnn Dionne grew up in Salmon Arm, B.C. At 16 she won a national essay-writing contest, the prize for which was three years' tuition at any Canadian university. She chose to go to McGill where she earned an honours BA in English. She has been previously published in Prairie Fire Magazine, where she placed second in their 2001 creative non-fiction contest. Her first book, Little Emperors, a memoir of her time in China, was scheduled for release from Beach Holme in 2005 (publication is still pending). She now lives in Victoria and is working on a book about Japan.