Joanne Arnott is an award winning Métis/mixed blood writer from Manitoba. Born in 1960 in Winnipeg, she studied at the University of Windsor in Ontario. She has lived on the West Coast since 1982. She is currently the poetry editor for Event Magazine. In 2017, Joanne won the City of Vancouver Mayor's Arts Award.

Her first book of poetry, Wiles of Girlhood won the Gerald Lampert Award in 1992. Other books include: My Grass Cradle, Breasting the Waves: On Writing & Healing, and the children's book, Ma MacDonald. She has performed readings of her work and given writing workshops across Canada and in Australia. Joanne's book Halfling Spring was shortlisted for the 2015 Pat Lowther Memorial Award (League of Canadian Poets).