Joanie Schirm

Joanie Schirm

Joanie Schirm won the 2013 Global Ebook Award for Best Biography for her book: Adventurers Against Their Will. Potomac Books will publish the second book, her father’s epic WWII tale, My Dear Boy: A World War II Story of Escape, Exile, and Revelation on March 1, 2019. Joanie is an award-winning writer, photographer, community activist, and retired Orlando, Florida businesswoman. The daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Oswald Holzer, she grew up on a sandy barrier island on the Space Coast of Florida, a place where extraordinary memories are made and pelicans soar. A sought after public speaker, she is internationally known for her highly successful leadership role in Orlando’s hosting of FIFA’s 1994 World Cup USA 1994. She is the proud parent of two adult children, Kelly and Derick, and lives in Orlando with her husband, Roger Neiswender. Her books can be purchased here.

  • Walt Disney’s Birthday – Thanks Walt for Inspiring us to Dream

    Walt Disney’s Birthday – Thanks Walt for Inspiring us to Dream

    If there is one person I can think of who best represents making dreams come true, it is Walt Disney.  While I grew up in Florida, Walt was my inspiration for achieving big goals in life through dreaming and doing. As an adult, the most pride I’ve felt while receiving an award was when I…

  • Chinese Box Contents Soon to be Revealed in My Dear Boy: The Discovery of a Lifetime

    Chinese Box Contents Soon to be Revealed in My Dear Boy: The Discovery of a Lifetime

      Chinese Box Contents Soon to be Revealed in My Dear Boy: The Discovery of a Lifetime     Thirteen years ago, in the midst of the most difficult moment of my life after my parents, Oswald and Ruth Alice Holzer, died within two days of each other, I was bestowed an amazing gift.  I…

  • “The life, my dear friend, is the art of meeting people.”

    “The life, my dear friend, is the art of meeting people.”

      “The life, my dear friend, is the art of meeting people.”   A wonderful event just occurred. Czech words from seventy years ago were read aloud in my writing room. It happened because I read a fortuitous article in the Orlando Sentinel newspaper reporting that the Rotary Club in our College Park neighborhood was…