Novel jacket cover bio

Johnnie Mazzocco is a Word Witch at heart, a fiction writer, and screenwriter who belongs among the trees. Published in So to Speak, roofbeam, and Narrative Northeast, she draws on her formative years in Colorado and Illinois to conjure stories born from nature, memory, and human interior landscapes. She currently writes from the city in the Pacific Northwest with her feline familiar, Iris, and a persistent longing for the Rocky Mountains. Miranda’s Garden is her debut novel and the first in a series. Visit her website at johnniemazzocco.com.

50-word bio

Johnnie Mazzocco is a Word Witch, a novelist and screenwriter, who embraces the power of story to heal. A former writing professor and prison educator, she writes from the Pacific Northwest alongside her feline, Iris. Miranda’s Garden is her first novel. johnniemazzocco.com

150-word bio

Johnnie Mazzocco is a Word Witch: a fiction writer, screenwriter, and the author of Miranda’s Garden, her debut novel and the first in a series. Published in So to Speak, roofbeam, and Narrative Northeast, she draws on nature, memory, and human interior landscapes to conjure stories that heal.

A former adjunct writing professor, Johnnie spent three years teaching in a prison—an experience that deepened her conviction that story is one of the most powerful forces for transformation available to us. She writes, mentors writers, and publishes through her literary imprint, Dark Moon Lilith Press, from the Pacific Northwest, where she lives with her feline familiar, Iris, and a persistent longing for the Rocky Mountains.

Her mission is simple and lifelong: to heal the world through story—her own, and the ones she helps others find. Visit her at johnniemazzocco.com.

300-word bio

Johnnie Mazzocco is a Word Witch: a fiction writer, screenwriter, and the author of Miranda’s Garden, her debut novel and the first in a series. Published in So to Speak, roofbeam, and Narrative Northeast, she has spent decades working at the intersection of craft, nature, and psychology, embracing the healing power of story.

Johnnie draws on her formative years in Colorado and Illinois to write fiction born from landscape, memory, and the depths of the human interior. She came to the Pacific Northwest in 1988 and remains, though she writes with the companionship of her feline familiar, Iris, and a persistent longing for the Rockies.

A retired adjunct writing professor, Johnnie spent three years teaching inside a prison, one of the most meaningful experiences of her teaching career. Watching incarcerated writers find language for experiences they had never been allowed to name confirmed what she had long believed: that story is not a luxury but a lifeline.

That belief shapes everything she does. As the founder of Dark Moon Lilith Press, a literary imprint centered on the dark feminine and marginalized voices and ideas, and the creator of Writing Through the Body — a methodology pairing fiction craft elements with the seven main chakras of the body — Johnnie brings the same commitment to healing to the writers she serves. She also runs a quiet, safe online space for sensitive writers and publishes The Liminal Letter, an essay-style newsletter exploring writing and the writing life.

Her mission is both personal and universal: to heal the world through story—the ones she writes and tells, and the ones she helps others write and tell.

Miranda’s Garden available on her website: johnniemazzocco.com.