Career
Following a grammar school education, in 1958 Joan obtained a Bachelor (Honours) from the University of London, and an Master of Arts from Washington University, in 1963.and after a period of teaching in the United States of America, her Doctor of Philosophy in London in 1972, and joined the English Department of the University of Saskatchewan, Regina Campus, which in 1974 became the autonomous University of Regina, and where she was appointed Professor of English in 1981. She remained on the faculty until she retired in 1995 to settle in British Columbia and take up full-time writing. In 1978-1979 Givner was Fellow of the Bunting Institute, Radcliffe College, Harvard University.
Givner was editor of the Wascana Review the literary journal of the University of Regina from 1984 to 1992, is a jury member for several literary prizes, and a contributor to the Literary Review of Canada.