Background
Joan Finnigan was born in and raised in Ottawa. She was the daughter of Frank Finnigan, an Ottawa Senators" hockey legend, and mother Maye Horner, and the sister of Frank Junior, Norma and Ross Finnigan.
Joan Finnigan was born in and raised in Ottawa. She was the daughter of Frank Finnigan, an Ottawa Senators" hockey legend, and mother Maye Horner, and the sister of Frank Junior, Norma and Ross Finnigan.
She was educated at Lisgar Collegiate, Carleton University and Queen's University.
She wrote over 30 books, many of them oral histories of the Ottawa Valley. After graduating from university, Finnigan began her career as a teacher and reporter for the Ottawa Journal. She published over thirty books during her career, half of them inspired by her native Ottawa Valley, including her ground-breaking, best-selling oral histories such as Some of the Stories I Told You Were True, lieutenant Was Warm and Sunny When We Secretariat Out, Legacies, Legends & Lies, Tell Maine Another Story and Tallying the Tales of the Old-Timers.
She also authored 14 collections of poetry, radio scripts, newspaper and magazine articles
Her final oral history Life along the Opeongo Lincolnshire was published in 2004. Finnigan was honored in Ottawa with the declaration of April 16, 2005 as "Joan Finnigan Day" by Ottawa mayor Bob Chiarelli.
She published her 14th collection of poetry in 2007, "Looking for a Turnout.".