E. K. Johnston

Johnston started writing fan fiction in 2002, and wrote her first manuscript in 2009.{{Cite web|url=https://www.thechildrensbookreview.com/weblog/2016/07/e-k-johnston-discusses-a-thousand-nights.html|title=E.K. Johnston Discusses A Thousand Nights : The Children's Book Review|website=www.thechildrensbookreview.com|date=27 July 2016 |language=en-US|access-date=2018-10-05}} 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 called the book "a clever first step in the career of a novelist who ... has many more songs to sing",{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/11/books/review/the-story-of-owen-by-e-k-johnston.html|title=Where There's Smoke|work=The New York Times |date=9 May 2014 |access-date=2018-10-05|language=en |last1=Kois |first1=Dan }} it was nominated for the William C. Morris Award 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. C.S. Lewis's descriptions of the desert in The Horse and His Boy inspired Johnston in writing her own novel set in the desert.{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2015/oct/14/cs-lewiss-the-horse-and-his-boy-the-best-guide-to-writing-deserts|title=CS Lewis's The Horse and His Boy: the best guide to writing deserts?|last=Johnston|first=E. K.|date=2015-10-14|website=the Guardian|language=en|access-date=2018-10-05}} A companion book, Spindle, followed in 2016, which was a reinterpretation of Sleeping Beauty.{{Cite news|url=https://ew.com/article/2016/05/10/ek-johnston-spindle-exclusive/|title=Read an excerpt from E.K. Johnston's 'Spindle' – exclusive|work=EW.com|access-date=2018-10-05|language=en}}

Her fifth novel, Exit, Pursued By A Bear, was published in 2016. Inspired by Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale, 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.{{Cite news|url=https://www.cbc.ca/books/ya-author-e-k-johnston-on-what-we-can-learn-from-william-shakespeare-1.4628519|title=YA author E.K. Johnston on what we can learn from William Shakespeare {{!}} CBC Books|work=CBC|access-date=2018-10-05|language=en-US}} It was named a "Book of the Year" by several organisations, including NPR,{{Cite news|url=http://apps.npr.org/best-books-2016/#/book/exit-pursued-by-a-bear|title=NPR's Book Concierge|work=NPR.org|access-date=2018-10-05|language=en}} Publishers Weekly,{{Cite news|url=https://best-books.publishersweekly.com/pw/best-books/2016/young-adult#book/book-3|title=Best Books 2016 Publishers Weekly|work=PublishersWeekly.com|access-date=2018-10-05}} and the New York Public Library.{{Cite web|url=https://www.nypl.org/press/press-release/november-23-2016/new-york-public-library-reveals-its-list-best-books-kids-and|title=New York Public Library Reveals its List of Best Books for Kids and Teens Just in Time for The Holidays|website=The New York Public Library|access-date=2018-10-05}} It won the Canadian Children's Book Centre's Amy Mathers Teen Book Award in 2017.{{Cite news|url=http://bookcentre.ca/programs/awards/amy-mathers-teen-book-award|title=Amy Mathers Teen Book Award – Canadian Children's Book Centre|work=Canadian Children's Book Centre|access-date=2018-10-05|language=en-US}}

A Star Wars fan,{{Cite news|url=https://www.flickeringmyth.com/2016/03/star-wars-ahsoka-ya-novel-announced/|title=Star Wars: Ahsoka YA novel announced|date=2016-03-31|work=Flickering Myth|access-date=2018-10-05|language=en-US}} Johnston was asked to write a book on the character Ahsoka Tano. Published in October 2016,{{Cite news|url=https://nerdist.com/new-star-wars-novel-featuring-ahsoka-tano-announced-exclusive/|title=New STAR WARS Novel Featuring Ahsoka Tano Announced (Exclusive) {{!}} Nerdist|date=2016-03-31|work=Nerdist|access-date=2018-10-05|language=en|archive-date=2018-08-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180810042358/https://nerdist.com/new-star-wars-novel-featuring-ahsoka-tano-announced-exclusive/|url-status=dead}} Ahsoka fills in the gap between her appearances in The Clone Wars and Rebels. Her second Star Wars novel, Queen's Shadow, was released in March 2019.{{Cite news|url=https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/ek-johnston-and-the-women-of-star-wars|title=E.K. Johnston and the women of Star Wars|last=Chhibber|first=Preeti|date=2018-08-01|work=Syfy|access-date=2018-10-05|language=en|archive-date=2018-10-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181005073738/https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/ek-johnston-and-the-women-of-star-wars|url-status=dead}} Featuring Padme Amidala, Queen's Shadow is set in the years between the events of The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones.{{Cite web|url=https://www.themarysue.com/padme-amidala-new-novels/|title=It's the Padmé Amidala Renaissance, We're All Just Living In It|website=www.themarysue.com|date=23 July 2018 |language=en|access-date=2018-10-05}} 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.

Johnston describes her novel That Inevitable Victorian Thing as a "[n]ear-future Sci-fi Canadian Idealistic Romance".{{Cite web|url=http://www.fictionfare.com/blog-tour-that-inevitable-victorian-thing-by-e-k-johnston/|title=Blog Tour: That Inevitable Victorian Thing by E.K. Johnston|website=www.fictionfare.com|date=4 October 2017 |language=en-US|access-date=2018-10-05}} 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, the composition of A Thousand Nights taking "about 20 days",. She advises early and young writers to learn to finish projects as practice in self-discipline and editing.

Among her favorite authors are Jo Graham, Elizabeth Wein, Tessa Gratton, Kiersten White, Madeleine L'Engle, J.R.R. Tolkien, David Eddings, C.S. Lewis, and Holly Black. She plays the alto saxophone and the clarinet.

Johnston released another Star Wars novel, Queen's Peril, on June 2, 2020.{{Cite web|url=https://dorksideoftheforce.com/2020/06/02/queens-peril-star-wars/|title=Queen's Peril proves Star Wars stories are best told out of order|website=dorksideoftheforce.com|date=2 June 2020 |language=en-US|access-date=2020-06-06}}

Johnston is biromantic and demisexual.{{Cite web |date=2019-06-13 |title=This New Fantasy Novel Imagines A World Where Queerness Is Actually Accepted |url=https://www.them.us/story/ek-johnston-the-afterward |access-date=2023-02-11 |website=Them |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |date=2016-06-27 |title=Love Letters In D-major |url=https://emilykatejohnston.wordpress.com/2016/06/27/love-letters-in-d-major/ |access-date=2023-02-11 |website=Emily Kate Johnston |language=en}}

• 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)
• Pretty Furious (2024)
• Titan of the Stars (2025)
• Sky on Fire (2025)

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

• Ahsoka (2016)
• "By Whatever Sun" (2017) (short story in From A Certain Point Of View anthology)
• Queen's Shadow (2019)
• Queen's Peril (2020)
• Queen's Hope (2022)
• Crimson Climb (2023)

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

• 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)

{{reflist |25em |refs=

[https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/johnston_e_k "Johnston, E K"]. The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, eds. John Clute and David Langford. Entry by Clute, updated 2021-10-21. Retrieved 2022-05-02.

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• {{LCAuth|n2013033811|E. K. Johnston|12|ue}}
• {{ISFDB name|200643}}

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Category:Living people

Category:Canadian women writers of young adult literature

Category:Canadian women novelists

Category:21st-century Canadian novelists

Category:21st-century Canadian women writers

Category:21st-century Canadian short story writers

Category:Canadian writers of young adult literature

Category:Canadian women short story writers

Category:Canadian science fiction writers

Category:Year of birth missing (living people)

Category:Asexual people

Category:Demisexual people

Category:21st-century Canadian LGBTQ people

Category:Canadian LGBTQ women

Category:Canadian LGBTQ novelists