Facts about Denis Johnson
4 Good Links
The Tears of Denis Johnson
Friends and former students remember himDenis Johnson Talks
2014 interview excerpts from the L.A. TimesDenis Johnson
Archive of features from the NYT Books sectionDenis Johnson
Brief bio and several poemsShare this:
Denis Johnson Biography
Denis Johnson was an American writer whose 2007 novel Tree of Smoke won the National Book Award.
He was also a poet, journalist and playwright whose work is often described as stories of lost and desperate people in bleak and chaotic situations.
Johnson began his career as a poet in the late 1960s, with realist tones reminiscent of Raymond Carver. He then spent a decade with alcohol and drugs and rehab, but made a splash when he returned with the 1983 novel Angels.
Literary, dedicated and reclusive, Johnson won over critics and gained something of a cult following with his collection of linked stories Jesus’ Son (1992), and secured his place as a novelist with the Vietnam War novel Tree of Smoke.
As a journalist he wrote about troubled corners of the world, epecially Africa, and as a poet he was known for directness, simplicity and powerful language.
His books of poetry include Inner Weather (1976) and The Veil (1985), and his novels include The Reuscitation of a Hanged Man (1991), Train Dreams (2011, a novella) and The Laughing Monsters (2014).