Alaya Dawn Johnson facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Alaya Dawn Johnson
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Johnson in 2013
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| Born | 1982 (age 41–42) Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Education | Columbia University (BA) |
| Period | 2007–present |
| Genre | Science fiction, fantasy, Solarpunk |
| Notable works | The Summer Prince The Spirit Binders' |
Alaya Dawn Johnson (born 1982) (/əˈlaɪə/) is an American writer of speculative fiction.
Career
Apart from short fiction, Johnson has published two urban fantasy novels about "vampire suffragette" Zephyr Hollis set in an alternate 1920s New York City, and two novels set on islands resembling pre-modern Polynesia where people have learned to bind elemental powers to their commands.
Her 2013 debut in the young adult fiction sector, the standalone novel The Summer Prince, is set on a post-apocalyptic cyberpunk Brazilian arcology ruled by a nanotech-empowered matriarchy. Love Is the Drug, her 2014 stand-alone young adult novel, is set in Washington, D.C., and follows a prep-school student whose memory loss may be connected to a burgeoning global influenza pandemic.
In February 2021 Johnson was the literary guest of honor and keynote speaker at the 39th annual Life, the Universe, & Everything professional science fiction and fantasy arts symposium.
Personal life
Johnson was born in Washington, D.C. She graduated from Columbia University in 2004 with a Bachelor of Arts in East Asian Languages and Cultures.
Johnson lived in New York City until 2014, when she moved to Mexico City. She received a master's degree in Mesoamerican studies from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México for her thesis on fermented food and its ritual symbolism in pre-Columbian Mexico.
Awards and honors
- World Fantasy Awards Winner, Best Novel for Trouble the Saints, 2021
- Andre Norton Award Winner, Best Young Adult Novel, 2015
- Nebula Award Winner, Best Novelette for A Guide to the Fruits of Hawai’i, 2015
- Nebula Award Nominee, Best Novelette for They Shall Salt the Earth with Seeds of Glass, 2013
- Andre Norton Award Nominee for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy for The Summer Prince, 2013
- National Book Award Longlist, Young People's Literature for The Summer Prince, 2013
- GLBTRT Top Ten Rainbow List for The Summer Prince, 2014
- Junior Library Guild selection for The Summer Prince, Spring 2013
- YALSA nominee for their BFYA list for The Summer Prince, 2013
- Finalist for the 2011 Carl Brandon Society Parallax award for the novel Moonshine
- Finalist for the 2011 Carl Brandon Society Kindred award for the novel The Burning City
- Top Ten finalist for the 2010 Million Writers Award for the short story A Song to Greet the Sun
- Winner of the 2008 Gulliver Travel Grant from the Speculative Literature Foundation
- Finalist for the 2006 Carl Brandon Society Parallax award for the short story Shard of Glass
