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Joanna Gardner, PhD

Mythology, Story, Creativity, Depth Psychology, Community

Joanna Gardner, PhD — Our lives run on stories: stories of the past and the future; stories about who we are and who we aren't; stories about what we can and cannot do and be. When we aren't aware of how stories work, we can be their victims. But when we attune to story, when we establish a conscious relationship with it, then we can co-create the stories of our lives. Story becomes our ally.

Dr. Gardner is a writer, mythologist, and magical realist. Her relationship with story includes published fiction, a PhD in mythological studies, entrepreneurial work as a writing coach and workshop leader, and twelve years of experience telling stories about technology in Silicon Valley.

Dr. Gardner has published 11 short stories and 20 poems, most of which incorporate magical realism, or elements of the more-than-real set in otherwise realistic situations. Magical realism taps into the metaphorical and mythical dimensions of experience, and it can tell a different and deeper kind of truth than straight realism can.

Dr. Gardner holds a PhD in mythological studies with an emphasis in depth psychology. Her dissertation research focused on creation myth and the creative process. In brief, she studied the archetypal processes at work in creation stories, from many cultures, for insight into creativity as research psychologists understand it. She is currently adapting that research into a book for popular audiences. 

Dr. Gardner also coaches writers to help them find their voice and structure their work, and she leads writing workshops that combine the techniques of creative and academic writing. She is the co-founder of the Fates and Graces Mythologium, a conference and retreat where scholars of mythology gather to share their research. The Mythologium is dedicated to cultivating the community of mythologists.

Her Silicon Valley experience is in the field of networking and digital storytelling, which is about connecting people. That's what story does, too. Stories can create connections, and they can reveal connections that were there all along, but that no one could see. In effect, I act as a bridge between technology and the humanities, combining fact and feeling, data and emotion, to tell digital stories in a digital world, to an audience of living, breathing human beings.

If we want to change our lives and our society, we have to change the stories we tell. Telling stories is a privilege, a joy, and an amazing opportunity, and it’s the work that my life orbits.

Written by Joanna Gardner, PhD include:

Windows in the Deep Woods

Windows in the Deep Woods

Salamandra and the Parking Meter

Salamandra and the Parking Meter

Love Letter to Blue

Love Letter to Blue

Where the Stream Comes From

Where the Stream Comes From