I'm Joanne Speirs, an award-winning Australian romance author—and I didn't set out to be one.

Life just had other ideas.

I grew up on a farm on South Australia's Eyre Peninsula, wrangling sheep with my dad, scouring the school library for Sweet Valley High, and quietly raiding my mum's Mills & Boon shelf whenever I thought no one was watching. Stories were always my escape.

I just never imagined I'd end up writing them.

After my mum passed away, I turned to words the way I'd always turned to books—for comfort, for somewhere to put the feelings I didn't know what to do with. What started as something private slowly became the thing I couldn't imagine my life without.

The Hearts of Point Perry series grew out of that place: small-town Australian romance and women's fiction built on second chances, slow-burn love, grief, healing, and the found families and communities that hold us together when everything else falls apart.

I'm proud of what those stories have become. My debut novel was runner-up in the prestigious Romance Writers of Australia Valerie Parv Award in 2019 and longlisted for the Emerald Award in 2020. I was voted Favourite Debut Romance Author at the 2023 Australian Romance Readers Awards, was a finalist in the Romance Writers of New Zealand Koru Award 2024 for both Best Long Romance and Best First Book, and in 2025 was a finalist for Best Romance Novella with both the Romance Writers of Australia and the Romance Writers of New Zealand. I'm still a little surprised every time I type that.

These days I live in Adelaide with my two grown sons, my husband, and our border collie Zeb—who spends all day sleeping at my feet.

There's something I love just as much as writing—helping other authors find their voice. Through my freelance editing business Nurturing Words, I work with romance and women's fiction authors to get their stories reader-ready. Because I know what it feels like to have a story you're not sure anyone needs—and I know that's almost never true.

If you're looking for your next small-town romance read, I'm so glad you found your way here.