Dr. Ioanna Pettas Opidee, MFA, PhD, is an award-winning educator and writer with more than twenty years of experience teaching at the high school and college levels. 

Her second book, Healing-Centered Writing in the Secondary Education Classroom: An Identity-Affirming and Restorative Approach will be published by Routledge in 2026. Her novel, Waking Slow (PFP, 2018), was called an "arresting, timely" take on sexual assault by The Boston Globe, and named a finalist in the multicultural category of the Foreword Indies Book of the Year Awards.

Ioanna's scholarly work focuses on humanizing and healing-centered approaches to the teaching of writing, with a focus on trauma and the body, as well as identity, intersectionality, and belonging. The methods she employs and teaches are rooted in contemplative inquiry, artistic exploration, and essayistic reflection, with an emphasis on cultivating practice rather than perfection, and on process rather than production. 

As a developmental editor and writing coach, she has worked with emerging and professional authors including those with books published by William Morrow and Knopf. As a writing and expressive arts facilitator, Ioanna is adept at tailoring workshops to the unique needs of the individuals, groups, and communities she serves, including the Yale Conservation Scholars and Environmental Fellows programs. 

Ioanna is particularly energized when working with people who not only want to develop their writing and communication skills but are also looking to bring what Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alice Walker might call their “stones to the pile” toward building a better world.