Johanny “Joa” Ortega was born in the Dominican Republic and raised by stories long before she ever thought of writing them. As a child, books gave her comfort, escape, and wonder. They carried her into space, into hidden worlds, into faraway places, and into the lives of characters who made the impossible feel close enough to touch.

When Johanny immigrated to the United States, that love of reading followed her. She learned English with one determined goal: to unlock more stories. More books. More worlds. More dreams.

But as she grew into a reader, she noticed what was missing.

Where were the Dominican girls? The immigrant daughters? The complicated families? The children with too much responsibility on their small shoulders? The women carrying silence, culture, grief, magic, and survival in the same body?

That absence became a spark.

Johanny began turning her “what if” questions into books, short stories, novellas, blog posts, and essays rooted in identity, resilience, cultural memory, and the strange beauty of surviving what tried to silence you. Her stories often explore multicultural families, generational trauma, Dominican heritage, blended homes, motherhood, girlhood, and the ghosts, both literal and emotional, that shape who we become.

Through Have a Cup of Johanny LLC, Johanny writes, publishes, and advocates for stories that center diverse, underrepresented voices. Her work is not only about telling stories. It is about making space for the kinds of voices and experiences that have too often been pushed to the margins.

Inspired by genre-spanning authors like Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Johanny refuses to stay in one creative box. She writes across age categories and genres because, to her, stories should have room to breathe, shift, haunt, comfort, and transform.

Her Books

Under her pen name, J.E. Ortega, she writes darker short works for adult readers. Her novella The Alvarez Girls is a military thriller, while I Love You So Much is a domestic thriller short story. These works lean into suspense, danger, complicated choices, and the tension of ordinary lives pushed to the edge.

Under her given name, Johanny Ortega, she writes the rest of her work, including middle grade fiction, magical realism, psychological horror, gothic family drama, personal essays, and stories rooted in Dominican heritage, identity, family, and ancestral memory.

Her middle grade novel Mrs. Franchy’s Evil Ring and the Six Months That Changed Everything explores blended families, step-parent relationships, childhood fear, self-advocacy, and Dominican culture through the eyes of Isla Delgado.

Her adult horror novel The Ordinary Bruja is the first book in the Las Cerradoras series, a haunting story about Marisol Espinal, a Dominican-American woman who returns to Willowshade, Ohio and uncovers the buried magic, grief, and ancestral secrets waiting for her. The book has earned two 5-star reviews from Readers’ Favorite and reached #17 in IngramSpark’s Magical Realism ranking.

Johanny is currently working on The Forgotten Bruja, the second book in the Las Cerradoras series. Set decades before The Ordinary Bruja, the novel follows Isadora Espinal, the bruja history tried to erase, as she returns to Willowshade and confronts the family legacy she once ran from.

If The Forgotten Bruja sounds like something you would read, fill out the ARC interest form.

Johanny also shares exclusive fiction with her newsletter subscribers, including her psychological horror short story The Woman on the Bench, a haunting tale about marriage, power, loneliness, and the kind of ghost that does not come to scare you, but to show you the truth.

No matter the genre, age group, or name on the cover, one thread runs through Johanny’s work: Dominican heritage, emotional honesty, and characters who are forced to face what they have inherited so they can decide what they will become.

Education

Associate in Justice Administration from Hawaii Pacific University

Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Liberty University

Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from National University

Other Places You May Have Seen Her Name

Johanny began sharing her writing through personal essays, which can be found on Medium. Old blog posts here. Fun fact, the Have a Cup of Johanny Website began as a blog (Blogger) so that Joa could express her frustrations with dating life. She also began book writing on Wattpad. A Witch Fit to Be a Queen garnered more than 3,000 reads and counting. Find it, and read about a queer teenage witch trying to bring down a narcissistic queen in a YA dystopian fantasy.

She has also contributed to multiple anthologies, including Quislaona, A Time for Thrills, and The Indigenous Composition.

Contact

You can contact Joa through email:

joa@haveacupofjohanny

or through social media

• TikTok
• Instagram