About

Joan Reilly has been a professional writer and illustrator since the mid-1990s, when she worked on the various projects of Parade magazine columnist and author Marilyn vos Savant. Around the turn of the century, she pivoted to a job designing prop book covers for puppets to hold on the children's TV show, “Between the Lions.” Throughout the twenty-oughts and -teens she did freelance writing, illustration and comics, until a brain tumor diagnosis in 2017 put everything on hold for a while. Today, she's working on a graphic memoir that uses her experiences with cancer treatment as a jumping-off point for exploring many other subjects, such as mental health, gender dynamics in the medical arena, and the importance of humor.

Joan is a 2026/2027 MacDowell Fellow, 2025 Yaddo Fellow, 2024-2025 Storozynski Residential Writing Fellow at University of Notre Dame, and recipient of a Koyama Provides grant (2022).

Her work has appeared in numerous publications, including the forthcoming Real Life Comix: Only in New York (2026, Cosmic Lion Productions), Draw the Line (2021, Street Noise Books), Pandemix (2020, Nightwork Studio), Keeping Score (2019, Fantagraphics), Amongst the Liberal Elite (2018, powerHouse Books), RESIST! (2017, Desert Island), and FLASHed (Pressgang, 2016).
She was a co-editor, illustrator and contributor for
The Big Feminist BUT, an anthology of comics about feminism (2014, Alternative Comics / Wow Cool).

After 20 years of living in New York City, she moved to Kutztown, PA, where she currently lives with her husband, three cats and five chickens.