Joe O'Connell is at work on a historical novel about the U.S.'s most famous contortionists, the Ross Sisters. He workshopped the piece in the two-year Book Project of the Lighthouse Writers Workshop in Denver and is now deep in revision.

His award-winning novel-in-stories Evacuaton Plan follows a screenwriter into a hospice in search of a plot for his next script. It is loosely inspired by O'Connell's experiences in a project that sent him into a residential hospice to tell the stories of near death. O'Connell is also a documentary filmmaker with works including Danger God and Rondo and Bob. He's an associate professor of English and Creative Writing at Austin Community College where he advises the student literary journal.