Joanna Cockerline, MA

Lecturer

Creative Writing, English and Cultural Studies, Faculty of Management

Other Titles: English
Office: CCS 332
Email: joanna.cockerline@ubc.ca

Research Summary

Communications; Creative writing; Contemporary Canadian fiction and memoir; Contemporary East African writing; Intersectional feminisms; Survivor narratives; and writing that inspires social change.

Courses & Teaching

ENGL 112 Studies in Composition; MGMT 240 Introduction to Management Communications; CORH 321 Personal and Professional Identity and Interpersonal Communication; CRWR 217 Intermediate Workshop in Creative Writing: Fiction

Biography

Joanna Cockerline is cross-appointed as a Lecturer in the Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies and the Faculty of Management at UBC Okanagan, where she has taught since 2011. Previously, she designed and directed an interdisciplinary writing skills program at the University of Guelph for over a decade. She has published articles on cross-curricular and embedded writing pedagogy, as well as fiction and poetry in national and international publications. Her novel, Still, was longlisted for the 2025 Giller Prize and named to the CBC’s Fall 2025 Reading List. She is co-author of the international short story anthology Seeing Our Sisters (2024) and is actively working on a new novel.

Joanna leads her own writing, editing, and writing consulting business, working with firms and organizations throughout Canada and across the globe. She works in sectors spanning engineering, international airports, infrastructure, travel and tourism, sports and recreation, and geotechnical and environmental initiatives, among others. Joanna has contributed to projects of all scales, from community not-for-capital-profit organizations to joint-venture initiatives with capital values in the multi-billion dollar ranges.

Additionally, Joanna is a street outreach volunteer and literacy and writing mentor within the community.

A CBC Literary Awards prizewinner, Joanna has published short stories, poetry, travel writing, and non-fiction in publications ranging from Room, The Fiddlehead, and En Route to International Human Rights Arts, from which one of her short stories was nominated for the Pushcart Prize. In 2024, she co-authored the international short story anthology Seeing Our Sisters, alongside African authors, and her novel Still, published with The Porcupine’s Quill (2025) was longlisted for the Giller Prize.

Websites

www.linkedin.com/in/joannacockerline

Degrees

B.A. English (Honours), University of Guelph, M.A. English (Honours with Distinction), University of Guelph, Graduate Certificate, Humber School of Creative Writing

Research Interests & Projects

Joanna Cockerline’s research and teaching interests in English include communications – particularly management communications, interpersonal and professional communications, science and engineering communications, interdisciplinary communications, and intercultural communications – as well as creative writing, contemporary Canadian fiction and memoir, East African literatures, intersectional feminisms, survivor narratives, and writing that inspires social change.

Teaching

Courses Taught 2018-2026

• ENGL 112 Studies in Composition
• MGMT 240 Introduction to Management Communications
• CRWR 217 Intermediate Fiction Writing Workshop
• CRWR 205 Popular Fiction
• CORH 321 Personal and Professional Identity and Interpersonal Communication
• ENGL 394E Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature – “Writing a Place, Writing a Self: Travel Writing, Representations of East Africa, and Contemporary East African Writing and Cultural Production” (Go Global Seminar Program – Tanzania)
• ENGL 394F Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature – “Beyond Borders: Strategies for Intercultural Communication” (Go Global Seminar Program – Tanzania)
• ENGL 395 Popular Literature (UBC Go Global Seminar Program – Tanzania)

Courses Taught 2011-2017

• ENGL 112 Studies in Composition
• ENGL 112 Studies in Composition (Management focus)
• ENGL 150 Introduction to Literary Genre
• APSC 176 Engineering Communication
• APSC 201 Technical Communication

Courses Taught in the Private Sector

• Maximizing Communications Skills
• Professionalizing Your English: A Course for Multilingual Professionals
• Creating Successful Proposals
• Advanced Communication Strategies and Leadership Communications

Selected Publications & Presentations

Books and Examples of Articles, Short Stories, Poetry, and Readings:

Still: A Novel. The Porcupine’s Quill, 2025. Longlisted for the Giller Prize.

Seeing Our Sisters: An International Anthology of Short Stories (2024), co-authored with Munira Hussein, Rehema Zuberi, Ellah Hallets, Hellena Mwololo, and Jacquie Nzioka (TJ).

“Still Here.” International Human Rights Arts. September 2022. Nominated for the Pushcart Prize.
“Assessing Writing Skills across the Curriculum.” Cockerline, J. and Rice, K. Journal of North American College Teachers of Agriculture. 50. 2 (2006): 65-80.

Invited Public Readings: National book tour for Still (2025-2026) and arious events, from “Bully to You! Voicing Views of Violence”, YMCA-YWCA Toronto, to the Eden Mills Writers’ Festival, Ontario. 2003 – Present.

“Blank Spaces.” En Route Magazine. June 2003. 67-70.

“Postcards (Not Sent) From Africa.” The Fiddlehead. Summer 2003. 59-64.

“Cold Lake, Alberta, December.” Room of One’s Own [now Room]. 24:2 (2001). 90-91.

Selected Grants & Awards

2025 Canada Council for the Arts Grant

2002 Canada Council for the Arts Grant

2002 Ontario Arts Council Grant

Awards & Distinctions:

2022 Golden Apple Award Nominee (nominated by students), University of British Columbia, Okanagan

2022 Centre for Teaching and Learning “I Am Accessible” Award Nominee (nominated by students), University of British Columbia, Okanagan

2018 Teaching Excellence Award Nominee, Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies, University of
British Columbia, Okanagan

2003 CBC Literary Award – Short Story

2000 Distinguished M.A. Thesis Prize (Top Masters thesis in the College of Arts), University of Guelph

1995 ScotiaBank Young Canadian Woman of the Year

Professional Services/Affiliations/Committees

Joint Appointment – Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies and Faculty of Management, University of British Columbia, Okanagan

Supervision / Mentorship

BC Arts Council – Mentor for Early Career Assistance Grant (Creative Writing)