Joan Steacy grew up in southern Ontario, and is a graduate of Sheridan College, The Ontario College of Art & Design University, and The University of Victoria. With her husband Ken Steacy she co-created the Comics and Graphic Novels program at Camosun College in Victoria, BC, where she taught from 2012 to 2020. Her first graphic novel Aurora Borealice: a Graphic Memoir, was published by Conundrum Press in 2019, and was listed as one of “Ten Canadian Comics to Read Right Now” by the CBC, and won the sequential magazine award for best graphic novel of 2019. Joan also produced the illustrations for a biography of our greatest canadian, titled A Boy Named Tommy Douglas which is published by Midtown press as well.

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"The Alice of Aurora Borealice is brilliant, talented, and a functional illiterate who believes what she's been told all her life, until with the aid of a supportive boyfriend and a healthy dose of Marshall McLuhan, she breaks free of her labels. Aurora Borealice is wittily written and charmingly drawn." - Trina Robbins
"Joan Steacy's Aurora Borealice is a whimsical, heartfelt and insightful look at the burgeoning Toronto art scene of the 1970s. A natural storyteller, her vivid characters come to life with her beautiful cartooning." - Jeff Lemire, author of Essex County and Secret Path
"Joan Steacy offers up an interesting new door into a moment in cultural history now up for re-evaluation. A gentle and thoughtful look at the recent past that feels far away at the same time." - Douglas Coupland