Catherine Johnson (novelist)

Background and career

Catherine Johnson was born in London, England, in 1962. Her father was Jamaican and her mother was Welsh. Johnson grew up in North London and attended Tetherdown Primary School. Later she studied film at St Martin's School of Art, before turning to writing.

Her first book, The Last Welsh Summer, was published by Welsh publisher Pont Books in 1993. She has since written and published 20 novels, including two for children about pioneering Arctic explorer Matthew Henson. In 1999, her book Landlocked was honoured as an International Youth Library White Raven book. Other accolades include the 2014 Young Quills Award for best historical fiction for over-12s for her 2013 book Sawbones, which was also shortlisted for the Rotherham Book Award, the Salford Children's Book Prize and the Hoo Kids Book Award. Johnson won the 2019 Little Rebels Award for Radical Children's Fiction for her 2018 book Freedom.

Johnson also writes for film, television and radio, and with Saul Dibb was co-writer of the screenplay for the 2004 film Bullet Boy.

Johnson has been a Royal Literary Fund Fellow at the London Institute, a Writer in Residence at Holloway Prison and a Reader in Residence at the Royal Festival Hall's Imagine Children's Literature Festival.

In 2019, she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Johnson is a contributor to the 2019 anthology New Daughters of Africa, edited by Margaret Busby.

Bibliography

• The Last Welsh Summer. Llandysul: Pont, 1993
• Sophie's Ghost. Llandysul: Pont, 1994
• Other Colours. London: Livewire, 1997
• Landlocked. Llandysul: Pont, 1999
• In Black and White. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000
• Hero. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001
• Stella. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002
• Face Value. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005
• Cuts Deep. London: Evans, 2007
• The Dying Game. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007
• A Nest of Vipers. London: Corgi, 2008
• Arctic Hero. Edinburgh: Barrington Stoke, 2008
• Con Men. Edinburgh: Barrington Stoke, 2009
• The Munro Inheritance. London: Corgi, 2009
• Nightmare Card. Edinburgh: Barrington Stoke, 2011
• Brave New Girl. London: Frances Lincoln Children's Books, 2011
• Sawbones. London: Walker Books Ltd, 2013
• The Curious Tale of the Lady Caraboo. London: Corgi Books, 2015
• Blade and Bone, London: Walker Books, 2016
• Freedom, Scholastic, 2018
• Riding the Tempest, 2018
• Race to the Frozen North: The Matthew Henson Story, illustrated by Katie Hickey, 2018
• To Liberty! The Adventures of Thomas-Alexandre Dumas. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2020

Awards

• 1999: IBBY White Raven Award - Landlocked
• 1999: Wales Book of the Year Award (shortlist) - Landlocked
• 2002: Hampshire Book Award (shortlist) - Stella
• 2008: Leeds Book of the Year Award (shortlist) - A Nest of Vipers
• 2008: Phoenix Book Award (shortlist) - A Nest of Vipers
• 2009: Birmingham KS3 Chills Award (shortlist) - Arctic Hero
• 2014: Young Quills Award for best historical fiction for over-12s – Sawbones
• 2019: Little Rebels Award for Radical Children's Fiction — Freedom

References

References

1. "Bullet Boy: Making Of".
2. "Catherine Johnson". [[The British Council]].
3. Catherine Johnson. "About Catherine".
4. (April 2023). "Great Lives {{!}} Matthew Henson, Arctic explorer and pioneer".
5. "White Ravens". International Children's Digital Library.
6. [http://catherinejohnson.co.uk/books/ "Books"], Catherine Johnson website.
7. [https://littlerebels.org/2019/07/10/catherine-johnson-is-the-2019-little-rebels-award-winner/ "Catherine Johnson is the 2019 Little Rebels Award Winner"], The Little Rebels Children's Book Award, 10 July 2019.
8. Katie Mansfield, [https://www.thebookseller.com/news/johnson-triumphs-little-rebels-award-radical-fiction-1037901 "Johnson triumphs at Little Rebels Award for Radical Fiction"], ''[[The Bookseller]]'', 10 July 2019.
9. Brooke, Michael. "Bullet Boy (2004)". [[British Film Institute]].
10. She has served as a judge for the [[Jhalak Prize]], first awarded in 2017.Farhana Shaikh, [https://www.jhalakprize.com/our-judges "The Jhalak Prize longlist"], ''The Asian Writer'', 12 January 2017.
11. [https://www.jhalakprize.com/our-judges "Our Judges"], Jhalak Prize, 2022.
12. [https://myriadeditions.com/uncategorized/myriad-authors-awarded-at-the-royal-society-of-literature-summer-party/ "Myriad authors awarded at the Royal Society of Literature summer party"], [[Myriad Editions]].
13. [https://rsliterature.org/2019/06/rsl-elects-45-new-fellows-and-honorary-fellows/ "RSL Elects 45 new Fellows and Honorary Fellows"] {{Webarchive. link. (28 February 2021 , The Royal Society of Literature, 25 June 2019.)
14. [https://rsliterature.org/fellow/catherine-johnson/ "Catherine Johnson"], The Royal Society of Literature.
15. [[Kevin Le Gendre]], [https://echoesmagazine.co.uk/2019/04/29/daughters-of-africa/ "Daughters Of Africa"], ''Echoes Magazine'', March 2019.
16. [https://www.curtisbrown.co.uk/client/catherine-johnson Catherine Johnson] at Curtis Brown.