Jo Ann Beard (born 1955) is an American essayist.
Beard was born in 1955 in Moline, Illinois. She graduated from the University of Iowa with a BFA degree in art, and from the Nonfiction Writing Program with an MFA in creative nonfiction. She teaches at Sarah Lawrence College.
Beard previously worked as a managing editor for a physics journal at the University of Iowa, and was a colleague of the victims of the University of Iowa shooting, which became a subject for her work.
Her writing has appeared in literary journals and magazines including The New Yorker, Tin House and O, The Oprah Magazine.