Jo Ann Beard

Jo Ann Beard (born 1955) is an American essayist.

Life Beard was born in 1955 in Moline, Illinois. She graduated from the University of Iowa with a BFA degree in art, and from the Nonfiction Writing Program with an MFA in creative nonfiction. She teaches at Sarah Lawrence College.

Beard previously worked as a managing editor for a physics journal at the University of Iowa, and was a colleague of the victims of the University of Iowa shooting, which became a subject for her work.

Her writing has appeared in literary journals and magazines including The New Yorker, Tin House and O, The Oprah Magazine.

Recognition Awards 1997: Whiting Award 2005: Guggenheim Fellow

Honours 2024: Royal Society of Literature International Writer

Works

Essays "The Fourth State of Matter", The New Yorker, June 24, 1996 "Undertaker, Please Drive Slow", Tin House, Issue #12, Summer 2002 "Maybe It Happened", O, The Oprah Magazine, August 2008 "The Longest Night: Saying Goodbye to My Beloved Pet", O, The Oprah Magazine, June 2009

Books

Anthology contributions