Photo by Cat Palmer Photography ©
J.A. Carter-Winward is the author of four novels: Falling Back to Earth: A Novel (2017); Grind: A Novel (2015); TDTM (2014); The Rub (2012), and two short story collections, Shorts: A Collection (2013), and The Bus Stops Here and Other Stories (2018). An award-winning poet, her poetry trilogy: No Apologies (2013), No Secrets (2014), and No Regrets (2015), contains genre-defying, convention-bending pieces that take the reader down class-5 rapids of emotion. Carter-Winward is also the author of a stage play, The Waiters, (produced in 2014, Ogden, Utah), a one-act play that addresses romantic relationships, and the impact technology has had on the pursuit, and preservation, of intimacy in the Digital Age.
A dynamic and engaging performer, Carter-Winward is at home in front of audiences, large or small. Whether she’s on stage performing spoken-word, theater monologues, or in a class as a guest lecturer, or at a podium in an academic, community, cultural, or political setting, Carter-Winward captivates audiences with energetic wit, honesty, and passion as much as the power of her words, as she defies socio-cultural convention.
Despite painful, debilitating neurological conditions (DIMD) due to a misdiagnosed TBI, Carter-Winward continues writing with intense, brutal, and courageous honesty. In her spare time, J.A. is a visual artist (her paintings and photography have appeared in several galleries throughout Utah), and a musician. Her music reflects her writing tone: songs that are part-performance poetry, part-comedy, crass, sincere, evocative, and heartbreaking.
Image courtesy of MC Catrow ©
Photo by Cat Palmer Photography ©
A passionate social and political activist, J.A. confronts complex issues with a raw, powerful precision, blending personal experience and universal human experience with honesty and courage. Her writing explores the human condition with compassion and empathy; profanity and reverence; humor, severity, and an unparalleled ferocity.
Called “one of today’s bravest voices in contemporary literature,” and “one of the best working poets in America today,” Carter-Winward continues to challenge, enrich, provoke, heal, and chronicle the vast spectrum of human emotion in her inimitable, yet multi-faceted voice. Her screenplay, written and produced by Carter-Winward for a local congressional candidate, (“Mom, Dad…I’m a Democrat,”) appeared on MSNBC’s The Lawrence O’Donnell Show after the video went viral within two hours, causing Glen Beck to, uh, lose his shit.
In 2013, The Rub, was nominated for the “Utah Book Award” by the Utah Arts and Humanities Council. Her poetry collection, No Apologies, was voted “Best Poetry Collection” in the City Weekly Arty Awards in 2014, and in that same year, Carter-Winward was awarded “Best Local Artist” in the Indie Ogden Awards. In 2015 her novel, Grind, was selected by IndieReader.com as one of the “Top Five Literary Novels” of the year published by an independent press.
​
Her work has appeared in the following publications: We Will Be Shelter: an anthology edited by Andrea Gibson, published by Write Bloody Publishing; HSTQ: Spring 2017, and Winter 2017 editions (as the featured poet in the Winter edition, her controversial poem, “Natural Enemy” is both brutal, and wickedly defiant); Desert Wanderings Literary Journal, and two online publications on Medium.com: Poets Unlimited, and Mormondom.
​
She is also a writer for Mad in America: Science, Psychology, and Social Justice. Find her writings here.
​
Carter-Winward’s books are available in all formats: paperback, e-book, and selected titles currently available on Audible, with more to come.
​
J.A. Carter-Winward began writing professionally when she realized everything else was a waste of time. She lives and writes in the mountains of Northern Utah.
​
Follow her on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, Medium, GoodReads. and her writing blog, Writing in Blood