Joanne Tolson has lived in North Carolina all her life; she is a descendant of English settlers. She has been writing since longer than 1992, when she began being published in 1994. She works in pastels, oil paints, and sketches. She writes poetry, science fiction, detective stories, and essays. Her works have appeared in Pablo Lennis, Surprising Stories, Poetry Soul To Soul, The Nocturnal Lyric, Tight, Red Owl Magazine, Reflect, Offerings, Fighting Chance Magazine, Love's Chance, The Pink Chameleon, The Poet's Pen.