[Photo by Kelly Michael Anderson]
Joey Grihalva is an award-winning writer from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA.
His paternal family immigrated from Ecuador in the 1950s, right before America's industrial decline. His maternal family is from Germany.
Grihalva grew up in the Sherman Park neighborhood and is a graduate of Milwaukee Public Schools.
He earned an undergraduate degree from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities in 2008. While in college, he co-hosted The Beat Box Radio Show and co-created DontBelieveTheHype.tv, a hip-hop news and variety web-series.
The week after Barack Obama's election, Grihalva flew to London, England with a six-month U.K. work visa. He spent the better part of a year working and traveling around Europe, primarily in Edinburgh, Scotland.
From 2010 to 2011, Grihalva trained as a journalist at Concordia University in Montréal, Québec, Canada.
In late 2013, Grihalva returned to his hometown. He began working as a substitute teacher in the Milwaukee Public Schools and a freelance writer.
Between 2014 and 2020, Grihalva contributed to Urban Milwaukee, Radio Milwaukee, Wisconsin Gazette (RIP), and other local and regional publications.
In 2019, Arcadia Publishing released Grihalva's first book, Images of America: Milwaukee Jazz.
In 2022, Twin Arrow Books published his second book, The Milwaukeean: A Tale of Tragedy and Triumph.
Grihalva teaches at Milwaukee High School of the Arts.
He lives in Bay View with his fiancée, her two children, and their budgie Kiwi.