- For Denis Johnson from London, who invented the bicycle forerunner called "hoy horse", see Denis Johnson (inventor).
Denis Johnson (born 1949 in Munich, West Germany) is an American author who is best known for his short story collection Jesus' Son (1992) and his novel Tree of Smoke (2007), which won the National Book Award.
Biography
Johnson holds an MFA degree from the University of Iowa[citation needed]. He received a Whiting Writer’s Award in 1986 and a Lannan Fellowship in Fiction in 1993.
Johnson first came to prominence after the publication of his short story collection Jesus' Son (1992), which was adapted into the 1999 film of the same name, which was named one of the top ten films of the year by The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Roger Ebert[citation needed]. Johnson has a cameo role in the film as a man who has been stabbed in the eye by his wife[citation needed].
In 2006-2007, Johnson held the Mitte Chair in Creative Writing at Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas[citation needed].
Personal life
Johnson is twice divorced and lives with his third wife, Cindy Lee, in Arizona and Idaho.[3][4] Johnson has three children, two of whom he homeschooled; in October, 1997 he wrote an article for Salon.com in defense of homeschooling.[5]
Awards
In 1981, he won the National Poetry Series, for The Incognito Lounge: And Other Poems.
In 2002, Johnson won the Aga Khan Prize for Fiction from The Paris Review for Train Dreams.
In 2007, Johnson published Tree of Smoke, his first full-length novel in nine years, which won a National Book Award and was a Pulitzer Prize finalist.[6][7]
Works
Poetry collections
- The Man Amongst the Seals: poems. Stone Wall Press. 1969.
- Inner Weather Graywolf Press, 1976
- The Incognito Lounge. Random House. 1982. ISBN 9780394523477.
- The Veil: poems. Knopf. 1987. ISBN 9780394743431.
- The Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations Millennium General Assembly: Poems Collected and New
Novels
Short story collection
Plays
Johnson's plays have been produced in San Francisco, Chicago, New York, and Seattle. He is the Resident Playwright of Campo Santo, the resident theater company at Intersection for the Arts in San Francisco.
- Hellhound on my Trail
- Shoppers Carried by Escalators into the Flames
- Soul of a Whore
- AB Survival in the United States
- Purvis
- Des Moines (To be produced by Intersection for the Arts October 19 and 20, 2007)
- Everything Has Been Arranged (An adaptation of Johnson's story Small Boys Unit, to be produced as part of Intersection for the Arts New Works Festival December 6-8, 2007)
Non-fiction
References
- ^ "What Authors Influenced You?", Authorsontheweb.com. Retrieved on 2007-07-10.
- ^ "Scott Snyder", litpark, 2006-08-31. Retrieved on 2007-12-28.
- ^ Writers' Workshop - The University of Iowa
- ^ Moore, Michael Scott. "Poet of the Fallen World: How an S.F. theater troupe helped turn a reclusive novelist into a full-fledged playwright" (reprint), SF Weekly, February 2003. Retrieved on 2008-06-11.
- ^ School is Out. Salon.com
- ^ Thompson, Bob (2007-11-15), Johnson's 'Tree of Smoke' Wins National Book Award, Washington Post, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/14/AR2007111402806.html, retrieved 2007-11-15
- ^ Sisario, Ben. "Arts, Briefly: Channeling Noir, Dickens-Style," The New York Times, 2008-06-11. Retrieved on 2008-06-11.
External links
