Daisy Johnson (writer) explained

Daisy Johnson
Birth Place:Paignton, England
Occupation:Writer
Language:English
Nationality:British
Alma Mater:Lancaster University, Somerville College, Oxford
Genre:Novels, short stories
Notableworks:Everything Under (2018)

Daisy Johnson (born 31 October 1990) is a British novelist and short story writer.[1] Her debut novel, Everything Under, was shortlisted for the 2018 Man Booker Prize,[2] and beside Eleanor Catton she is the youngest nominee in the prize's history. For her short stories, she has won three awards since 2014.

Biography

Johnson was born in Paignton, Devon, in 1990, and grew up around Saffron Walden, Essex.[3] She was a pupil at a Quaker school, Friends' School Saffron Walden, completing her A-levels in 2009.[4] She earned her bachelor's degree in English and Creative Writing from Lancaster University before earning a master's degree in Creative Writing at Somerville College, Oxford, where she also worked at Blackwell's bookshop.[5] [6] While at Oxford, she won the 2014 AM Heath Prize for fiction while working on her first short story collection, and had short stories published in The Warwick Review and the Boston Review.[7] [8] [9] Shortly after, she won the 2016 Harper's Bazaar short story prize for "What The House Remembers".[10]

In 2015, she won a two-book deal with publisher Jonathan Cape for a collection of short stories and a novel.[11] The short story collection titled Fen was published in 2017. Set in the fens of England, it draws upon the memories of the area where Johnson grew up. It comprises a set of linked short stories, focusing on the experiences of women and girls in a small town. Johnson describes the collection as liminal and mythic.[12] The collection won the 2017 Edge Hill Short Story Prize.[13]

Johnson followed Fen with her debut novel, Everything Under, in 2018. The novel focuses on the relationship between Gretel, a lexicographer, and her mother and is set against a backdrop of the British countryside. Gretel grows up on a canal boat with her mother and they invent a language to use between them. Gretel's mother abandons her when Gretel is sixteen, and the novel starts sixteen years later with a phone call. Johnson worked on the novel for around four years, starting it at the same time as her short story collection to challenge herself to write something longer. She went through at least five drafts of the book (which she has said had seeds in her studies of the Greek myth of king Oedipus),[14] made several changes to characters and setting,[15] and for a period, it was titled Eggtooth.[16]

Everything Under was shortlisted for the 2018 Man Booker Prize. Johnson is the youngest author to be shortlisted for the prize.[17]

Johnson currently lives in Oxford.[18] Her favourite writers include Stephen King, Evie Wyld, Helen Oyeyemi and John Burnside. Her favourite poets include Robin Robertson and Sharon Olds.[19] Had she been unsuccessful as a writer, Johnson suggests that she would have been a shepherd.

Novels

Short story collections

Awards

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Daisy Johnson: 'If I weren't living off my writing I'd be a shepherd'. www.newstatesman.com. en. 2018-08-22. 2018-10-13.
  2. News: Man Booker prize 2018 longlist includes graphic novel for the first time. Flood. Alison. 2018-07-23. The Guardian. en. 2018-07-24.
  3. Web site: Lancaster graduate praised for Booker Prize shortlist achievement. www.lancaster.ac.uk. en. 2018-10-17. 2018-10-13.
  4. Ring . Elisabeth . 2013 . Impressions & memories from past Quartet members . Friends' School Saffron Walden Old Scholars' Magazine . 31.
  5. Web site: Alumna Daisy Johnson Shortlisted for Man Booker Prize 2018. University of Oxford. Oxford University Department for Continuing Education. en. 2018-09-24. 2018-10-13.
  6. Web site: Oxford author youngest ever on Man Booker shortlist. Oxford Mail. en. 2018-09-20. 2018-10-13.
  7. News: MSt News: Daisy Johnson wins the 2014 AM Heath Prize. 2014-12-18. Master's in Creative Writing. Oxford University. 2018-10-13. en-GB.
  8. Web site: The Warwick Review Vol.8 No.1 Mar 2014. warwick.ac.uk. en-GB. 2018-10-13.
  9. Web site: There Was a Fox in the Bedroom. Johnson. Daisy. 2015-01-07. Boston Review. en. 2018-10-13.
  10. Bazaar's Short Story Competition. 2016-05-06. Harper's BAZAAR. 2018-10-13. en-GB.
  11. News: MSt alumna Daisy Johnson 'On getting an offer for my writing …'. 2015-03-02. Master's in Creative Writing. Oxford University. 2018-10-13. en-GB.
  12. Web site: Foyles. Daisy Johnson on Fen Short stories, creative writing, landscape and gender. . 2016-06-21. 2018-10-13.
  13. News: Edge Hill Short Story Prize 2017 winner announced - News. 2017-08-26. News. 2018-10-13. en-GB. 5 September 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210905062912/https://www.edgehill.ac.uk/news/2017/08/edge-hill-short-story-prize-2017-winner-announced/. dead.
  14. Web site: How 27-Year-Old Author Daisy Johnson Re-Invented the Oedipus Myth. Vanity Fair. Erin. Vanderhoof. 2018-11-01.
  15. News: How I write: Man Booker shortlist authors reveal their inspirations. Kushner. Rachel. Burns. Anna. 2018-10-13. The Guardian. en. 2018-10-13. Edugyan. Esi. Robertson. Robin. Powers. Richard. Johnson. Daisy.
  16. Web site: 2017 Longlist - The Sunday Times Short Story Awards. shortstoryaward.co.uk. en. 2018-10-13.
  17. News: Daisy Johnson is youngest Booker nominee. 2018-09-20. BBC News. 2018-10-13. en-GB.
  18. Web site: Daisy Johnson. www.penguin.co.uk. en. 2018-10-13.
  19. News: Web Exclusive Interview: Daisy Johnson -. 2017-04-24. American Short Fiction. 2018-10-13. en-US. 14 October 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20181014010125/http://americanshortfiction.org/2017/04/24/web-exclusive-interview-daisy-johnson/. dead.
  20. Web site: Sisters. Publishers Weekly. 18 May 2020.
  21. News: MSt alumna Daisy Johnson longlisted for Sunday Times EFG Short Story award. 2017-02-13. Master's in Creative Writing. Oxford University. 2018-10-13. en-GB.
  22. Web site: The 2019 Longlist. The Desmond Elliott Prize. en. 2019-11-01. 5 September 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210905062912/https://desmondelliottprize.org.uk/the-2019-prize/the-2019-longlist/. dead.