Michael Darren David Johnston, known as D.D. Johnston, (born 1979) is a Scottish political novelist. He currently lives in

Cheltenham Cheltenham (), also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a spa town and borough on the edge of the Cotswolds in the county of Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort, following the discovery of mineral s ...

, England.D.D. Johnston, About, n.d.
Accessed 17 June 2015 The left-wing British newspaper the ''

Morning Star Morning Star, morning star, or Morningstar may refer to: Astronomy * Morning star, most commonly used as a name for the planet Venus when it appears in the east before sunrise ** See also Venus in culture * Morning star, a name for the star Siri ...

'' called him "one of this country’s most principled socialist novelists" and "also one of the most versatile and talented around." He was born in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

, Scotland, and attended university there.

Novels

Johnston's first novel, ''Peace, Love & Petrol Bombs'', from the anarchist publisher

AK Press AK Press is a worker-managed, independent publisher and book distributor that specialises in radical left and anarchist literature. Operated out of Chico, California, the company is collectively owned. History AK was founded in Stirling, Sc ...

Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...

, California, was selected as a Herald Book of the Year by Helen Fitzgerald. It has been translated into Spanish as ''Paz, amor y cócteles molotov'' (Hoja de Lata, 2013). Johnston's second, ''The Deconstruction of Professor Thrub'', from

Barbican Press Barbican Press is an independent publishing house launched in 2013 by Martin J. Goodman for "innovative novels that are just too edgy for the mainstream but allow people to break all bounds and find a unique voice." Its titles include Kate Horsle ...

, was written for a PhD in Creative Writing at the

University of Gloucestershire , mottoeng = In Spirit and Truth , established = , type = Public , endowment = £2.4 m (2015) , chancellor = Rennie Fritchie, Baroness Fritchie , vice_chancellor ...

. A third novel, ''The Secret Baby Room'', was published in July 2015. It is a psychological thriller set in Manchester. The author commented: "It’s taken me slightly longer to finish it than it took the Achaeans to fight the

Trojan War In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans (Greeks) after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus, king of Sparta. The war is one of the most important events in Greek mythology and has ...

. I hope it’s worth the wait." His novel "Disnaeland" was published in hardback by Barbican Press in 2022. The

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...

summed it up pretty fully in a short space: 'DD Johnston's Disnaeland, a comedic dystopia set in a small Scottish town, is all profanity and colloquial dialect. When civilisation collapses, a community struggles to unite and rebuild. Bringing light to a dark world is no mean feat, but the characters in the novel do just that, and so does the author. From the cunning pun of its title onward, Disnaeland is a scabrous treat.' The book gives us a Scottish utopia, in the spirit of what D.D.Johnston professes about his work on his publisher's website: 'the consistent theme is his love for ordinary people, and his faith in the extraordinary things we can achieve together.'

Lecturing

Johnston is a senior lecturer in creative writing at the University of Gloucestershire.D.D. Johnston 'Room 101' Harrogate International Festivals
Accessed 25 May 2015

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnston, D.D. 1979 births Living people 21st-century Scottish writers Alumni of the University of Gloucestershire 21st-century Scottish novelists Scottish socialists