Published Work Stories from the Heart – Penning the Pandemic coedited with Jane Connolly 2020. It was published by the Queensland Writer's Centre Stories From The Heart: Penning the Pandemic - You can access this story below.
An Anthology coedited with Jane Connolly, Jenny Adams and Tatia Power in 2022 - A Celebration of Continuous Quality, Holistic Healthcare in Camp Hill Over 75 Years. Scope magazine - short stories and poems in several editions Essay A Touch of Humanity - published in The Big Issue Oct 2021 Medicine Today - July 2022 Life on the Edge, March 2023 Beyond the Call of Duty, May 2023 The Home Visit, Bed 12 September 2023 MiNDFOOD magazine - multiple articles about women's health issues, mental health and current medial topics of interest
Writing Awards Australian Writer’s Centre Furious Fiction Short listed October 2019 – The Road Less Travelled January 2024 - The Boss February 2024 - The Truth about the Tooth Fairy June 2024 - A Beginning That Ends Long listed May 2019 Pomegranates June 2019 The Secret Jan 2020 Around the Globe with Mr Coney May 2020 Last Breath December 2020 Pa's Garden June 2022 Saving Evangeline June 2023 A Season of Hope August 2024 The Other Side September 2024 Still Life Fiction Factory – UK Long listed May 2020 – The Road Home April 2024 - A Star is Born Fish Publishing - Flash Fiction long listed April 2021 - Too Late short listed April 2022 - The Kiss Wow - Women on Writing April 2021 - Endings July 2021 - Magpies Warble October 2021 - Black Man running January 2023 - The Christmas Letter Fellowship of Australian Writers Qld (FAWQ) July 2021 - Too Late Commended July 2021 - The Promise Highly Commended August 2022 - The Appointment short listed Eastwood Hills FAW August 2021 - Black Man Running second place August 2021 - The Wedding third place Queensland Writer’s Centre Right Left Write Won April 2020 – Second Chances September 2020 – Pomegranates January 2020 - Fight and Flight - included in Lockdown Diaries May 2021 - The Big Voices of the Secret Poet's Society September 2023 - Hide and Seek Honorable mention July 2020 – Too Late Peter Hammond Short Story Competition Long listed October 2021 - Deadly Alliance October 2022 - Knock, Knock Short listed Serpent River 2022 (Highly Commended) can purchase anthology from Hawkeye Publishing Marj Wilkie Short Story Competition Short listed March 2022 - Final Breath January 2023 - The Kiss Not Quite Write - long listed 2023 - Longing for Home 2024 - The Arrival 2024 - Putting Affairs in Order Gold Coast Short Story Competition 2023 2023 - The Good Mother - second place 2024 - Remembrance Day - short listed Bridport Poetry 2023 The Passing -long listed Hawkeye Manuscript Development Awards 2022 - A World of Silence long listed 2023 - The Truth about My Daughter - second place (publishing contract August 2023) 2024 - The Family - Long listed
Novel Writing Her first book Blood is Thicker Than Water, is a story about identity, family and finding the courage to not only stand up for who you are but to challenge long held prejudices. Jo's second novel, A World of Silence, deals with the secrecy that often protects perpetrators of domestic violence. It long listed in the 2022 Hawkeye Manuscript Development Prize. Her third novel The Family, focuses on the resilience of a mother and daughter whose bond is deeply damaged by toxic religious and cultural agendas until, through courageous determination, they reclaim the truths stolen from them. It long listed in the 2023 Hawkeye Manuscript Development Award. Her fourth novel, The Truth About My Daughter, a contemporary women's novel featuring two sisters navigating their love/hate relationship within a dysfunctional family placed second in the Hawkeye Manuscript Development Prize and was launched on 14 September 2024. She completed a fifth novel, 'A Good Woman,' featuring three generations of women who find themselves at a cross roads in their lives. A grandmother, a mother and a daughter are each forced to make difficult decisions that will complicate not only their own lives but the lives of loved ones. At a lighthouse residency in Newcastle in June 2024, Jo completed a second draft of another novel, The Last Supper. It is about three woman, Juanita Peggy and Ilona who are approaching 80 and determined not to become frail or dependent on others. After the death of Peggy’s husband, whose final decade was lost to dementia, the three women plan to enjoy a year of doing whatever they please, ending with week of decadence enjoying good food and champagne somewhere beautiful. Following a Last Supper, they commit to making a final exit together. Her novel, The Truth about My Daughter was released by Hawkeye publishing on 1 October 2024. She has a publishing contract for A World of Silence.