Biography

Joanna Ho is the New York Times-bestselling and award-winning author of many books for kids including picture books Eyes that Kiss in the Corners, Say My Name, and We Who Produce Pearls, and the young adult novel, The Silence that Binds Us. She has received the Asian/Pacific American Award for Children’s Literature Honor, a Golden Kite Award, an Ezra Jack Keats Honor, and a Golden Poppy Award.

The daughter of Chinese and Taiwanese immigrants, Joanna was born in Minnesota where she developed a mid-Western accent that she has never been able to shake. She moved around as a child, attending school in the Twin Cities and Baltimore before settling in the Bay Area and being happily spoiled by the beautiful weather, beaches, mountains, and forests.

Joanna is a writer and educator with a passion for anti-bias, anti-racism, and equity work. She holds a BA in psychology from the University of Pennsylvania, and a master’s from the Principal Leadership Institute at Berkeley. She has been an English teacher, a dean, the designer of an alternative-to-prison program, a teacher professional development creator, and the vice principal of a high school in the Bay Area. She works deeply with restorative justice, project-based curriculum, design thinking and culturally-affirming pedagogy.

Joanna survives on homemade chocolate chip cookies, outdoor adventures, and dance parties with her two butt-shaking kids.