Joanna Selby was born in Levin and was educated at primary schools in Levin and Otaki and at Palmerston North Technical College. She studied nursing and became a Registered Nurse in Palmerston North in 1942. In 1943 Joanna trained as a maternity nurse at the Cook Hospital in Gisborne and in 1944 trained as a plunket nurse at the Truby King Hospital in Dunedin. In 1945-46 she was in charge of the children’s ward at Dannevirke Public Hospital.
Biographical sources
- Phone conversation and correspondence with Joanna Selby, 14 and 19 July 1998, 5 and 8 Aug. 2004, and 1 May 2005.
Non-fiction
- "Lucy Jacob." Biography Of New Zealand Women: Ko Kui Ma Te Kaupapa. Ed. Charlotte MacDonald, Meremere Penfold and Bridget Williams. Wellington, N.Z.: Bridget Williams, 1991. 325-327.
- Co-authored with Hine Tamatea Morgan, Cynthia Tohe Bell and Arohaana Sciascia.
- The Day of the Logs. Otaki, N.Z.: Te Wananga o Raukawa, Dec. 1999.
- Selby writes: ‘I wrote the story of The Logs as a letter to my grand-daughter who was aged 3 years at that time. It was also a way of helping her to know part of her whakapapa.’