Joseph P. Stinnett

Joe Stinnett is the retired editor of The News & Advance, Lynchburg, Va.'s daily newspaper, and The Roanoke Times. He grew up in Amherst County, attended Amherst County High School, and graduated from the University of Virginia with a degree in English in 1974. He began his journalism career in 1974 as a reporter for The News, Lynchburg's morning paper, and later worked as managing editor of the Amherst New Era-Progress and Nelson County Times weekly newspapers before returning in 1980 to The News, and The Daily Advance, which was the city's afternoon daily. At the Lynchburg papers, he became night city editor, then city editor, and later managing editor. He concluded his career with a year as editor of The Roanoke Times before retiring in 2014. Since retiring, he has written multiple freelance stories, mostly on historical topics, and served as a journalism advisor for Cardinal News. He is the author of Out of Virginia: Black Americans' Search for Freedom in Nineteenth-Century Liberia, to be published in March 2026 by the University of Virginia Press.

His wife, Ellen, is a retired public school teacher. They have been married for more than 50 years and have two sons and three grandchildren. This is his first book.

Contact Joe at stinnett@gmail.com if you would like him to speak to your organization, book club, or class.