Andrew John Bayly Johnston is a Canadian historian, novelist and museum writer. He is the author of five novels of historical fiction as well as sixteen books (and over 100 articles) on the History of
Atlantic Canada
Atlantic Canada, also called the Atlantic provinces (french: provinces de l'Atlantique), is the region of Eastern Canada comprising the provinces located on the Atlantic coast, excluding Quebec. The four provinces are New Brunswick, Newfoundlan ...
.
Johnston is originally from
Truro, Nova Scotia
Truro (Mi'kmaq: ''Wagobagitik''; Scottish Gaelic: ''Truru'') is a town in central Nova Scotia, Canada. Truro is the shire town of Colchester County and is located on the south side of the Salmon River floodplain, close to the river's mouth at ...
and currently lives in
Halifax.
Career
Johnston's writing career is closely associated with the history of the
Fortress of Louisbourg
The Fortress of Louisbourg (french: Forteresse de Louisbourg) is a National Historic Site and the location of a one-quarter partial reconstruction of an 18th-century French fortress at Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. Its two sie ...
. In recognition of his body of work on that national historic site of Canada, the Government of France made Johnston a chevalier of the
Ordre des Palmes académiques
A suite, in Western classical music and jazz, is an ordered set of instrumental or orchestral/concert band pieces. It originated in the late 14th century as a pairing of dance tunes and grew in scope to comprise up to five dances, sometimes with ...
. His 2017 book ''Endgame 1758'' won a Clio award from the
Canadian Historical Association
The Canadian Historical Association (CHA; French ''Société historique du Canada'', SHC) is a Canadian organization founded in 1922 for the purposes of promoting historical research and scholarship. It is a bilingual, not-for-profit, charitable ...
and was short-listed for the
Dartmouth Book Award
Johnston had a long career as an historian with Parks Canada.
The historical account ''Ni'n na L'nu: The Mi'kmaq of Prince Edward Island'', co-authored with Jesse Francis, won the "best Atlantic-published" book, the PEI Book Award for non-fiction and a PEI Heritage Award. Johnston also developed the story-lines and scripts for the exhibit of the same name.
Johnston has written the scripts for many exhibits in Atlantic Canada. Some of those exhibits have been at (or currently still are at) the Nova Scotia Museum, the Colchester Historeum, Musée des Acadiens des Pubnicos, Yarmouth County Museum, the Black Cultural Centre, and the aforementioned travelling exhibit entitled N'in na L'nu: The Mi'kmaq of Prince Edward Island.
Since 2009, Johnston has published three novels inspired by the historical figure of
Thomas Pichon
Thomas Pichon (30 March 1700 – 22 November 1781), also known as Thomas Tyrell, was a French government agent during Father Le Loutre's War. Pichon is renowned for betraying the French, Acadian and Mi’kmaq forces by providing information to t ...
(1700–1781). They are ''Thomas, A Secret Life'' (2012), ''The Maze'' (2014) and ''Crossings'' (2015).''
Atlantic Books Today
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe and ...
'' described Johnston as "a natural to write this story." The review of ''Thomas'' in ''
The Antigonish Review
''The Antigonish Review'' is a quarterly literary magazine publishing new and established contemporary literary fiction, reviews, non-fiction articles/essays, translations, and poetry. Since 2005, the magazine runs an annual competition, the Sheld ...
'' stated: "This is a fine novel, one that strikes just the right balance between fact and fiction." As for ''The Maze'', Paul W. Bennett writes: "Taking on historical fiction and imaginatively recreating the inner life of one of Canada's most controversial early historical figures would be beyond the reach of most scholars. A. J. B. Johnston ... is more than equal to that challenge." The reviewer in the ''Nashwaak Review'' wrote: "Pichon is as real and developed a character as you will find anywhere … both believable and impressive." Two more novels appeared in 2018, with ''The Hat'', a YA novel about the Expulsion of the Acadians from Grand-Pré in 1755, and ''Something True'', a coming-of-age biographical fiction about Katharine McLennan (1892-1975).
In 2020, Nimbus Publishing released Johnston's ''Kings of Friday Night: The Lincolns''. It's about a 1960s rock 'n roll band that was based in Truro, Nova Scotia and was widely popular across the Maritimes. Though all-white, they played mostly Soul and R&B songs, and are credited with breaking racial barriers at the time. One member of that band was renowned playwright, novelist and composer John MacLachlan Gray. Gray wrote the "Foreword" to the book. The "Afterword" was written by the band's singer, Frank MacKay. After The Lincolns and a Toronto-based band called Soma, MacKay would go on to have a celebrated career as a stage actor as well. Johnston was interviewed about the book on "Book-Me Podcasts", hosted by Costas Halavrezos. In November 2020, Johnston collaborated with Tom Ryan and Costas Halavrezos to create a 5-minute micro-documentary about The Lincolns. The video—Kings of Friday Night: The Lincolns—was posted on YouTube
Johnston's research archives are deposited at the Beaton Institute of the Cape Breton University.
In February and March 2017, Johnston was Writer-in-Residence at Wolff Cottage (the Center for the Writing Arts) in Fairhope, Alabama.
In July 2018, A. J. B. Johnston was named as one of the members of a special task force that is to make recommendations to the Halifax Regional Municipality regarding the commemoration of British colonial governor of Nova Scotia, Edward Cornwallis, and of the commemoration of Indigenous history within the municipality. That task force report was submitted to HRM mayor, council and staff in May 2020.
According to a post on Johnston's website in January 2023, his next book will be published by Acorn Press. It will be a novel entitled ''Into the Wind'' which is slated to be released in the spring of 2023.
Authored and co-authored books
Fiction
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* EPUB 978-1-7752289-0-5
* EPUB 978-1-77206-022-5, Kindle 978-1-77206-023-2, Web pdf 978-1-77206-021-8
* EPUB 978-1-927492-71-0, MOBI 978-1-927492-72-7
* EPUB 978-1-897009-89-5, MOBI 978-1-897009-90-1
History
Current English editions and re-prints
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* ASIN : B08N1L2SKP. EPUB :
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* ''Paperback Edition''
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* ''Paperback Edition''
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Previous English editions
* ''Hardcover Edition''
* ''Hardcover Edition''
Non-English editions and translations
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* ''Paperback Edition''
* ''Hardcover Edition''
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References
* ''Cape Breton Post'', 20 March 2012
External links
A.J.B. Johnston's websiteA.J.B. Johnstonat
LinkedIn
LinkedIn () is an American business and employment-oriented online service that operates via websites and mobile apps. Launched on May 5, 2003, the platform is primarily used for professional networking and career development, and allows job se ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnston, A. J. B.
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
Canadian historical novelists
Canadian military historians
Historians of Atlantic Canada
Canadian male novelists
21st-century Canadian novelists
21st-century Canadian male writers
Canadian male non-fiction writers