JOANNE BRIGGSWRITER

Winner of the Bridport Prize for Memoir 2024

ABOUT JOANNE...

Joanne had a successful career as a barrister and judge before she became an author, representing clints in criminal and civil proceedings and later presiding in forensic mental health cases, special educational needs, and disability rights. She is highly experienced in academic and technical writing, including contributions in specialist law texts; most recently, a chapter on judges and witnesses for the manual ‘Giving Evidence at a Mental Health Tribunal: A Professionals’ Handbook’, published by Routledge in 2025. Joanne is a visiting research fellow in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at University of Brighton and as part of her fellowship, she is leading a series of workshops with students and staff.

THE SCIENTIST WHO WASN'T THERE

Joanne Briggs’ debut book, a mixed-genre memoir called ‘The Scientist Who Wasn’t There’, was published in hardback in June 2025 by Bonnier’s Ithaka Press, after winning the prestigious Bridport Prize for Memoir in April 2023. Described in the Times Literary Supplement in December 2025 as “a gripping story”, and in a Telegraph review by novelist Ian Sansom as “thrilling, unsettling” and “a vivid depiction of a world in which ambition and imagination collide, with devastating human consequences”, the book has had a positive reception from both reviewers and readers, and has been the subject of long-form author interviews on Sky news and the BBC World Service. A podcast series on the Sky platform is currently in production, with an updated paperback edition due for release in June 2026.

"An astonishingly original memoir... Thrilling, unsettling..."

The Daily Telegraph

"Fascinating, inventive and disturbing... It combines fact and fiction... to gripping effect"

Full article (paywall)

The Times

"Briggs is able to make her narrative a page-turner... Many of the sentences fire off like darts.”

Plays International

"Pacy, staccato narrative .... a gripping story."

Times Literary Supplement

"Hauntingly frank..."

'Five best science picks'

Nature Magazine

Guardian 'Life & Style' article July 2025 on 'The Scientist Who Wasn't There'.

The Guardian

"An astonishingly original memoir... Thrilling, unsettling..."

The Daily Telegraph

"Fascinating, inventive and disturbing... It combines fact and fiction... to gripping effect"

Full article (paywall)

The Times

"Briggs is able to make her narrative a page-turner... Many of the sentences fire off like darts.”

Plays International

"Pacy, staccato narrative .... a gripping story."

Times Literary Supplement

"Hauntingly frank..."

'Five best science picks'

Nature Magazine

Guardian 'Life & Style' article July 2025 on 'The Scientist Who Wasn't There'.

The Guardian

"An astonishingly original memoir... Thrilling, unsettling..."

The Daily Telegraph

"Fascinating, inventive and disturbing... It combines fact and fiction... to gripping effect"

Full article (paywall)

The Times

"Briggs is able to make her narrative a page-turner... Many of the sentences fire off like darts.”

Plays International

"Pacy, staccato narrative .... a gripping story."

Times Literary Supplement

"Hauntingly frank..."

'Five best science picks'

Nature Magazine

Guardian 'Life & Style' article July 2025 on 'The Scientist Who Wasn't There'.

The Guardian

"An astonishingly original memoir... Thrilling, unsettling..."

The Daily Telegraph

"Fascinating, inventive and disturbing... It combines fact and fiction... to gripping effect"

Full article (paywall)

The Times

"Briggs is able to make her narrative a page-turner... Many of the sentences fire off like darts.”

Plays International

"Pacy, staccato narrative .... a gripping story."

Times Literary Supplement

"Hauntingly frank..."

'Five best science picks'

Nature Magazine

Guardian 'Life & Style' article July 2025 on 'The Scientist Who Wasn't There'.

The Guardian

Email
jo@joannebriggs.com

Contact Info

+44-7977471069

Address

Rottingdean, Brighton, UK