Denis Johnson
| Denis Johnson | |
|---|---|
| Born |
July 1, 1949 Munich, West Germany |
| Occupation | Novelist, poet, playwright |
| Nationality | American |
| Period | 1969–present |
| Genre | Fiction, non-fiction |
| Notable works |
Angels Jesus' Son Train Dreams Tree of Smoke |
Denis Hale Johnson (born July 1, 1949) is an American writer best known for his short story collection Jesus' Son (1992) and his novel Tree of Smoke (2007), which won the National Book Award for Fiction. He also writes plays, poetry and non-fiction.
Johnson was born in 1949 in Munich, West Germany. Growing up, he also lived in the Philippines, Japan, and the suburbs of Washington. His father worked for the State Department as a liaison between the USIA and the CIA. He holds a BA in English and an MFA degree from the Iowa Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa, where he has also returned to teach. While at the Writers' Workshop, he took classes from Raymond Carver.
Johnson published his first book of poetry, The Man Among Seals, in 1969 at the age of 19. He earned a measure of acclaim with the publication of his first novel, Angels, in 1983. He came to prominence in 1992 with the short story collection Jesus' Son, which included vignettes originally published in The New Yorker. He has said the collection was inspired by Isaac Babel’s short story collection Red Cavalry. In a 2006 New York Times Book Review poll, it was voted one of the best works of American fiction published in the last 25 years. It was adapted into the 1999 film of the same name, which starred Billy Crudup. Johnson has a cameo role in the film as a man who has been stabbed in the eye by his wife.
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