Meet Joanna

The Short Story

Joanna FitzPatrick, a Hollywood hippie at twenty-one, married a rock star, divorced him, and became a single mom in need of a job. With a madder-than-a-hatter partner, she wrote and produced: Satin World of White Lilacs and Pink Champagne. Partnership folded.

Hired by an agency representing Bette Midler. Later, FitzPatrick managed Manhattan Transfer, Fred Hersch, amongst others. Next move: Managing Director of Gramavision Records.

Then she realized musicians were having more fun than she was and earned a BA in literature at SUNY and then an MFA at Sarah Lawrence College. Results: memoir, Sha La La, Live for Today and three novels: Katherine Mansfield, based on the short story writer’s life, The Drummer's Widow (semi-autobiographical), and an historical mystery, The Artist Colony.

FitzPatrick divides her time between San Francisco and a remote village in southern France where she begins all her book projects. 

The Long Story

Joanna FitzPatrick was born and raised in Hollywood. Her father, James A. FitzPatrick, produced travelogues for MGM. She started her writing journey by applying her orange fountain pen and wild imagination to screenplays, producing her first film “White Lilacs and Pink Champagne.” She loved the work but she had a falling out with her partner, the director.

Having a bit of experience in the music biz, she found a job at an artist agency who managed the career of the Divine Diva, Bette Midler. She went on to represent The Manhattan Transfer and other dynamic singers and musicians known for their riveting live performances. Her work brought her often to Manhattan where she hailed taxis after all-night jam sessions or danced until dawn at nightclubs.

Bored with Los Angeles and its excessive sunshine, FitzPatrick made a giant leap of faith and moved to Manhattan with her young daughter. In quick succession, she married again, gave birth to a second child, and was hired as managing director of Gramavision Records. When that company was sold, FitzPatrick’s one ambition was to complete her college education. After graduating with a Literature degree at SUNY Purchase, she received an MFA in creative writing at Sarah Lawrence College. Her thesis, SHA LA LA: LIVE FOR TODAY, is a memoir about marrying and divorcing The Grass Roots lead guitarist, Creed Bratton (who later played himself in The Office).

FitzPatrick’s first historical novel, Katherine Mansfield, was inspired by reading Katherine Mansfield’s short stories. She read the short story writer’s journals and letters until she knew her well enough to write her story.

The Drummer’s Widow was written after her second husband was diagnosed with cancer. She wrote out of the daily fear of what her life would be like without him. Her character, Widow Marisa, led FitzPatrick down a grieving widow’s path to a reawakening.

FitzPatrick’s most recent novel, The Artist Colony is an historical mystery located in Carmel-by-the-Sea in 1924, when the iconic village was a haven for female painters. Ada Belle, a famous landscape painter, has drowned in the Pacific. Her younger sister, Sarah, a Modernist painter, travels from Paris to Carmel to investigate Ada Belle’s alleged suicide.

FitzPatrick divides her time between San Francisco and a remote village in southern France where she begins all her book projects. Currently she is working on a collection of literary travelogues.