Emily Kate Johnston, who publishes as E.K. Johnston, is a Canadian novelist and forensic archaeologist.

Career

Johnston started writing

fan fiction Fan fiction or fanfiction (also abbreviated to fan fic, fanfic, fic or FF) is fictional writing written in an amateur capacity by fans, unauthorized by, but based on an existing work of fiction. The author uses copyrighted characters, settin ...

in 2002, and wrote her first manuscript in 2009. Her first book, ''The Story of Owen: Dragon Slayer of Trondheim'', was published in 2014, and is set in an alternate present-day Ontario where dragons are both real and a menace. The review in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' called the book "a clever first step in the career of a novelist who ... has many more songs to sing", it was nominated for the

William C. Morris Award The William C. Morris YA Debut Award is an annual award given to a work of young adult literature by a "first-time author writing for teens". It is administered by the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of the American ...

in 2015. A sequel, ''Prairie Fire'', followed in 2015. Johnston's third book was '' A Thousand Nights'', a retelling of ''

One Thousand and One Nights ''One Thousand and One Nights'' ( ar, أَلْفُ لَيْلَةٍ وَلَيْلَةٌ, italic=yes, ) is a collection of Middle Eastern folk tales compiled in Arabic during the Islamic Golden Age. It is often known in English as the ''Arabian ...

.''

C.S. Lewis CS, C-S, C.S., Cs, cs, or cs. may refer to: Job titles * Chief Secretary (Hong Kong) * Chief superintendent, a rank in the British and several other police forces * Company secretary, a senior position in a private sector company or public se ...

's descriptions of the desert in ''

The Horse and His Boy ''The Horse and His Boy'' is a novel for children by C. S. Lewis, published by Geoffrey Bles in 1954. Of the seven novels that comprise ''The Chronicles of Narnia'' (1950–1956), ''The Horse and His Boy'' was the fifth to be published. The nov ...

'' inspired Johnston in writing her own novel set in the desert. A companion book, ''Spindle'', followed in 2016, which was a reinterpretation of

Sleeping Beauty ''Sleeping Beauty'' (french: La belle au bois dormant, or ''The Beauty in the Sleeping Forest''; german: Dornröschen, or ''Little Briar Rose''), also titled in English as ''The Sleeping Beauty in the Woods'', is a fairy tale about a princess cu ...

. Her fifth novel, ''Exit, Pursued By A Bear'', was published in 2016. Inspired by

Shakespeare's William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

The Winter's Tale ''The Winter's Tale'' is a play by William Shakespeare originally published in the First Folio of 1623. Although it was grouped among the comedies, many modern editors have relabelled the play as one of Shakespeare's late romances. Some criti ...

'', it tells the story of cheer-leading captain Hermione Winters, who discovers she is pregnant after being sexually assaulted at a camp party. It was written partially as a challenge, and partially as a response to Stephen Woodworth's 2013 bill to re-criminalise abortion. It was named a "Book of the Year" by several organisations, including

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

, ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of B ...

'', and the

New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second largest public library in the United States (behind the Library of Congress ...

. It won the Canadian Children's Book Centre's Amy Mathers Teen Book Award in 2017. A ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...

'' fan, Johnston was asked to write a book on the character

Ahsoka Tano Ahsoka Tano is a fictional character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. Introduced as the Jedi Padawan of Anakin Skywalker, she is a supporting character in the animated film '' Star Wars: The Clone Wars'' (2008) and the subsequent animated telev ...

. Published in October 2016, ''

Ahsoka Ahsoka Tano is a fictional character in the '' Star Wars'' franchise. Introduced as the Jedi Padawan of Anakin Skywalker, she is a supporting character in the animated film '' Star Wars: The Clone Wars'' (2008) and the subsequent animated te ...

'' fills in the gap between her appearances in '' The Clone Wars'' and ''

Rebels Rebels may refer to: * Participants in a rebellion * Rebel groups, people who refuse obedience or order * Rebels (American Revolution), patriots who rejected British rule in 1776 Film and television * ''Rebels'' (film) or ''Rebelles'', a 2019 ...

''. Her second Star Wars novel, ''Queen's Shadow'', was released in March 2019. Featuring Padme Amidala, ''Queen's Shadow'' is set in the years between the events of ''

The Phantom Menace ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' and ''

Attack of the Clones Attack may refer to: Warfare and combat * Offensive (military) * Charge (warfare) * Attack (fencing) * Strike (attack) * Attack (computing) * Attack aircraft Books and publishing * ''The Attack'' (novel), a book * '' Attack No. 1'', comic ...

''. Additionally, she has also written the story ''By Whatever Sun'', focusing on Miara Larte, a character Johnston created within ''Ahsoka'', and set during the events of ''

A New Hope ''Star Wars'' (retroactively titled ''Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope'') is a 1977 American Epic film, epic space opera film written and directed by George Lucas, produced by Lucasfilm and distributed by 20th Century Fox. It is the first ...

''. Johnston describes her novel ''That Inevitable Victorian Thing'' as a "Near-future Sci-fi Canadian Idealistic Romance". It was published in 2017. She credits her discipline in academic writing for helping her time management while writing prose; and states she is a fast writer – she wrote ''A Thousand Nights'' in "about 20 days", and writes with little disturbance. She advises early and young writers to learn to finish projects as practice in self-discipline and editing. Her favourite authors are

Jo Graham Jo, jo, JO, or J.O. may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Jo'' (film), a 1972 French comedy * ''Jo'' (TV series), a French TV series *"Jo", a song by Goldfrapp from ''Tales of Us'' *"Jo", a song by Mr. Oizo from ''Lambs Anger'' * Jo a fictio ...

Elizabeth Wein Elizabeth E. Wein (, born October 2, 1964) is an American-born writer best known for her young adult historical fiction. She holds both American and British citizenship. Personal life Elizabeth E. Wein was born in New York City on October 2, ...

, Tessa Gratton,

Kiersten White Kiersten White is an American author of fiction for children and young adults. Her first book, '' Paranormalcy'', was published by HarperCollins in 2009. Early life White was born in Utah in 1983 and graduated in 2004 from Brigham Young Univer ...

Madeleine L'Engle Madeleine L'Engle DStJ (; November 29, 1918 – September 6, 2007) was an American writer of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and young adult fiction, including ''A Wrinkle in Time'' and its sequels: ''A Wind in the Door'', ''A Swiftly Tilting Plan ...

JRR Tolkien JRR may refer to: * J. R. R. Tolkien (1892–1973), English writer, poet, philologist and university professor * Jaime Robbie Reyne (born 1985), Australian singer * Jay Robinson Racing, a racing team * Jiru language Jiru is a Jukunoid language ...

David Eddings David Carroll Eddings (July 7, 1931 – June 2, 2009) was an American fantasy writer. With his wife Leigh, he authored several best-selling epic fantasy novel series, including ''The Belgariad'' (1982–84), ''The Malloreon'' (1987–91), '' The ...

, CS Lewis, and

Holly Black Holly Black (''née'' Riggenbach; born November 10, 1971) is an American writer and editor best known for her children's and young adult fiction. Her most recent work is the ''New York Times'' bestselling young adult ''Folk of the Air'' series. ...

. She plays the alto saxophone and the clarinet. Johnston released another Star Wars novel, ''Queen's Peril'', on June 2, 2020.

Personal life

Johnston is

biromantic A person's romantic orientation, also called affectional orientation, is the classification of the sex or gender with which a person experiences romantic attraction towards or is likely to have a Interpersonal relationship#Romance, romantic rela ...

and

demisexual Demisexuality is a term in which an individual does not experience primary sexual attraction – the type of attraction that is based on immediately observable characteristics such as appearance or smell and is experienced immediately afte ...

Bibliography

Novels

* ''The Story of Owen: Dragon Slayer of Trondheim'' (2014) * ''Prairie Fire'' (2015) * ''A Thousand Nights'' (2015) * ''Spindle'' (2016) – also published as ''Kingdom of Sleep'' * ''Exit, Pursued By A Bear'' (2016) * ''That Inevitable Victorian Thing'' (2017) * ''The Afterward'' (2019) * ''Aetherbound'' (2021)

Short stories

* ''Work In Progress'' (2017) in ''Three Sides of A Heart: Stories about Love Triangles'', edited by Natalie Parker

Star Wars

* ''

'' (2016) * "By Whatever Sun" (2017), short story in ''

From A Certain Point Of View '' Star Wars'' is an American epic space-opera media franchise, centered on a film series created by George Lucas that includes '' Star Wars'' (1977), ''The Empire Strikes Back'' (1980), and ''Return of the Jedi'' (1983). The series depicts t ...

'' * ''Queen's Shadow'' (2019) * ''Queen's Peril'' (2020) *''Queen's Hope'' (2022) *''Crimson Climb'' (2023)

Dungeons & Dragons

* Honor Among Thieves: The Druid's Call (2022)

Awards

* 2015: William C. Morris Award, shortlist (''The Story of Owen: Dragon Slayer of Trondheim'') * 2017: Amy Mathers Teen Book Award in 2017, winner (''Exit, Pursued By A Bear'')

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Johnston, E. K. Living people Women writers of young adult literature Canadian women novelists 21st-century Canadian novelists 21st-century Canadian women writers 21st-century Canadian short story writers Canadian writers of young adult literature Canadian women short story writers Canadian science fiction writers Year of birth missing (living people) Demisexual people