Joni Rodgers is a critically acclaimed novelist, #1 NYT bestselling ghostwriter, and EGOT collaborator. She’s worked with Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony winners, cultural change agents, style icons, and everyday people living extraordinary lives. She specializes in compelling memoirs, message-driven nonfiction, and book/screenplay adaptations. Joni is known industry-wide for her top-drawer talent, dedication to deadline, and holistic collaborative style. Cover credit is negotiable. Confidentiality is sacred. Craft skills are ironclad.
"Joni Rodgers is a pure storyteller. She writers with a humanity, lyricism, and grace that make her books impossible to put down."
AARON SORKIN
"Engaging honesty and a steady supply of wisecracks ."
NEW YORK TIMES
"This talented author brings pen and ink people to flesh and blood fulfillment."
SOUTHERN LIVING
BACKSTORY
I grew up performing in a family bluegrass band, majored in theater arts at Viterbo University, and spent my 20s busking, teaching theater school, and providing voiceovers for over 3,000 radio and television commercials.
Diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma at 32, I used the chemo downtime to write my first two novels: Crazy for Trying (MacAdam-Cage 1996) and Sugarland (Bertelsmann 1999). I followed up with my first bestseller: Bald in the Land of Big Hair (HarperCollins 2001), a memoir about being a young mom/writer with blood cancer.
The success of BLBH sparked a syndicated newspaper column, a deal for my next novel, and invitations to participate in high-profile book projects as a ghostwriter, story whisperer, and dialogue doctor.
Fast forward 20+ years and 30+ books...
I’ve written three more novels of my own and collaborated on a long string of bestselling books (fiction and nonfiction) and an Oscar-nominated screenplay.
I live on the beach in Washington State with my husband, multimedia artist Gary Rodgers.
PAST CLIENTS
· CNN anchor Don Lemon
· Style icon/entrepreneur/activist Paris Hilton
· Broadway icon Kristin Chenoweth
· Activist/advocate Elizabeth Smart
· Activist/entrepreneur Ndaba Mandela, grandson of Nelson Mandela
· Explorer/activist Vanessa O’Brien
· Broadway, film, and TV star Rue McClanahan
· Pop star Justin Bieber
· Broadway, film, and TV star Swoosie Kurtz
· Choreographer/activist Mayte Garcia
· Junk Gypsy design empire cofounders Amie and Jolie Sikes
· Film and TV star Cybill Shepherd
· Pop diva Taylor Dayne
· Rapper/entrepreneur Spectacular Smith
· Ambassador Nancy G. Brinker, founder of Susan G. Komen for the Cure
REPRESENTATION
Cindi Davis-Andress at Pastorini-Bosby Talent
713.266.4488
Kirkus
Starred Review for
Paris Hilton's
Paris: The Memoir
“Tender and triumphant…furiously candid…a master class in owning your story.”
Kirkus
Starred Review for
Don Lemon's
This is the Fire
“A vital book for these times…puts 2020 in context and gives it the language to sing a quietly outraged song.”
BlueInk Reviews
Howard Tate Scott's
Rascal on the Run
“Southern wit, family drama, and courtroom hijinks… Fans of Southern historical fiction are sure to love this insightful, unforgettable debut.”