Joan (Thaler) Dobbie was born in Trogen, Switzerland, of Jewish refugee parents. The family came to U.S.A. in 1948 and settled in Parishville N.Y. in 1950. Joan and her three siblings grew up in the North Country, where their father served as local doctor to several rural communities. Joan studied English Literature at SUNY Potsdam, receiving her B.A. in 1967.

After a short teaching stint in Puerto Rico, she lived in Boston and Cambridge Mass between 1968 and 1974. (And yes, she did attend the original Woodstock in 1969). In Boston, she worked as proof desk clerk for Ginn & Company publishers, began writing (what she later discovered were poems) every spare moment, married Brian Dobbie and gave birth to a daughter, Dawn, in 1970. In 1974 Joan moved back to the North Country, gave birth to her son,Andrew, and became deeply involved in both the practice and study of Hatha Yoga. She also co-authored Before Us, Studies of Early Jewish families in St. Lawrence County and edited the CETA Times as well as the prize-winning Parishville Hopkinton Central School newsletter.

In 1983 Joan relocated to Eugene, Oregon, where she has been writing poetry, fiction and Life Stories ever since. Joan has a 1988 University of Oregon MFA in Creative Writing, and has, since 1998, taught Hatha Yoga at the University of Oregon and since 1986, at River Road's Emerald Park. Joan co-hosts the monthly River Road Reading Series (RRRS). Her books include The Many Faces of Hatha Yoga (Kendall Hunt 2012) and Woodstock Baby, A Novel in Poetry (The Unforgettables Press 2013) Her poems and stories have appeared online and in mags and anthologies over the years. Some have won prizes. Joan's full length book, The Language of Stone ( Uttered Chaos Press) will be released in October, 2019.

And, on another tack, she is the long distance grandmother of six marvelous human beings, two boys and a girl in Western Australia, and two girls and a boy in Boulder, Colorado, all of whom, the moment she gets off an airplane, make her world shine.

Check out her poetry Website at https://joandobbie.blogspot.com