Daisy Johnson (born 31 October 1990) is a British novelist and short story writer. Her debut novel, ''Everything Under'', was shortlisted for the

2018 Man Booker Prize The 2018 Booker Prize for Fiction was awarded at a ceremony on 16 October 2018. The Man Booker dozen of 13 books was announced on 24 July, and was narrowed down to a shortlist of six on 20 September. The longlist included ''Sabrina'' by Nick Drnaso ...

, and beside

Eleanor Catton Eleanor Catton (born 1985) is a New Zealand novelist and screenwriter. Born in Canada, Catton moved to New Zealand as a child and grew up in Christchurch. She completed a master's degree in creative writing at the International Institute of M ...

she is the youngest nominee in the prize's history. For her short stories, she has won three awards since 2014.

Biography

Johnson was born in

Paignton Paignton ( ) is a seaside town on the coast of Tor Bay in Devon, England. Together with Torquay and Brixham it forms the unitary authority, borough of Torbay which was created in 1968. The Torbay area is a holiday destination known as the Engli ...

, Devon, in 1990, and grew up around

Saffron Walden Saffron Walden is a market town and civil parish in the Uttlesford district of Essex, England, north of Bishop's Stortford, south of Cambridge and north of London. It retains a rural appearance and some buildings of the medieval period. Th ...

, Essex. She was a pupil at a Quaker school, Friends' School Saffron Walden, completing her A-levels in 2009. She earned her bachelor's degree in English and Creative Writing from

Lancaster University Lancaster University (officially The University of Lancaster) is a collegiate public university, public research university in Lancaster, Lancashire, England. The university was established in 1964 by royal charter, as one of several new univer ...

before earning a master's degree in Creative Writing at

Somerville College, Oxford Somerville College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. It began admitting men in 1994. The colle ...

, where she also worked at

Blackwell's Blackwell UK, also known as Blackwell's and Blackwell Group, is a British academic book retailer and library supply service owned by Waterstones. It was founded in 1879 by Benjamin Henry Blackwell, after whom the chain is named, on Broad Stree ...

bookshop. While at Oxford, she won the 2014 AM Heath Prize for fiction while working on her first short story collection, and had short stories published in ''The Warwick Review'' and the ''

Boston Review ''Boston Review'' is an American quarterly political and literary magazine. It publishes political, social, and historical analysis, literary and cultural criticism, book reviews, fiction, and poetry, both online and in print. Its signature form ...

.'' Shortly after, she won the 2016 ''

Harper's Bazaar ''Harper's Bazaar'' (stylized as ''Harper's BAZAAR'') is an American monthly women's fashion magazine. Bazaar has been published in New York City since November 2, 1867, originally as a weekly publication entitled ''Harper's Bazar''."Corporat ...

'' short story prize for "What The House Remembers". In 2015, she won a two-book deal with publisher

Jonathan Cape Jonathan Cape is a British publishing firm headquartered in London and founded in 1921 by Herbert Jonathan Cape, who was head of the firm until his death. Cape and his business partner Wren Howard (1893–1968) set up the publishing house in ...

for a collection of short stories and a novel. The short story collection titled ''Fen'' was published in 2017. Set in the fens of England, it draws upon the memories of the area where Johnson grew up. It comprises a set of linked short stories, focusing on the experiences of women and girls in a small town. Johnson describes the collection as liminal and mythic. The collection won the 2017

Edge Hill Short Story Prize The Edge Hill Short Story Prize is a short-story contest held annually by Edge Hill University. Background The concept for the prize was developed by Professor Ailsa Cox following a 2006 short-story conference at Edge Hill. Candidates must be b ...

. Johnson followed ''Fen'' with her debut novel, ''Everything Under,'' in 2018. The novel focuses on the relationship between Gretel, a lexicographer, and her mother and is set against a backdrop of the British countryside. Gretel grows up on a canal boat with her mother and they invent a language to use between them. Gretel's mother abandons her when Gretel is sixteen, and the novel starts sixteen years later with a phone call. Johnson worked on the novel for around four years, starting it at the same time as her short story collection to challenge herself to write something longer. She went through at least five drafts of the book (which she has said had seeds in her studies of the Greek myth of king

Oedipus Oedipus (, ; "swollen foot") was a mythical Greek king of Thebes. A tragic hero in Greek mythology, Oedipus fulfilled a prophecy that he would end up killing his father and marrying his mother, thereby bringing disaster to his city and family. ...

), made several changes to characters and setting, and for a period, it was titled ''Eggtooth''. ''Everything Under'' was shortlisted for the 2018 Man Booker Prize. Johnson is the youngest author to be shortlisted for the prize. Johnson currently lives in Oxford. Her favourite writers include

Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author. Dubbed the "King of Horror", he is widely known for his horror novels and has also explored other genres, among them Thriller (genre), suspense, crime fiction, crime, scienc ...

Evie Wyld Evelyn Rose Strange "Evie" Wyld (born 1980) is an English author. Several of her novels are set in Australia, where she spent holidays with her grandparents as a child, and she has won several Australian literary awards. Her first novel, '' Aft ...

Helen Oyeyemi Helen Oyeyemi FRSL (born 10 December 1984) is a British novelist and writer of short stories. Life Oyeyemi was born in Nigeria and was raised in Lewisham, South London from when she was four. Oyeyemi wrote her first novel, '' The Icarus Girl' ...

and

John Burnside John Burnside (19 March 1955 – 29 May 2024) was a Scottish writer. He was one of four poets (with Ted Hughes, Sean O'Brien and Jason Allen-Paisant) to have won the T. S. Eliot Prize and the Forward Poetry Prize for a single book – in th ...

. Her favourite poets include

Robin Robertson Robin Robertson (born in 1955) is a Scottish poet. Biography Robertson was brought up on the north-east coast of Scotland, but has spent most of his professional life in London. After working as an editor at Penguin Books and Secker and War ...

and

Sharon Olds Sharon Olds (born November 19, 1942) is an American poet. She won the first San Francisco Poetry Center Award in 1980, the 1984 National Book Critics Circle Award, and the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.

. Had she been unsuccessful as a writer, Johnson suggests that she would have been a shepherd.

Awards

*2014: AM Heath Prize for fiction, winner *2016: ''Harper's Bazaar'' short story prize, winner ("What the House Remembers") *2017:

Sunday Times Short Story Award The Sunday Times Short Story Award, also known as the Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award and later the Sunday Times Audible Short Story Award, was a British literary award for a single short story open to any novelist or short story writer from ...

, longlist ("Blood Rites") *2017:

, winner (''Fen'') *2018:

Man Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a prestigious literary award conferred each year for the best single work of sustained fiction written in the English language, wh ...

shortlist (''Everything Under'') *2019:

Desmond Elliott Prize The Desmond Elliott Prize is an annual award for the best debut novel written in English and published in the UK. The winning novel can be from any genre of fiction and must exhibit depth and breadth with a compelling narrative. The winner receiv ...

longlist (''Everything Under'')

Works

Novels

*''Everything Under'' (2018), London:

* ''Sisters'' (2020)

Short story collections

*''Fen: Stories'' (2017), UK: Jonathan Cape; USA: Graywolf Press

References

External links

''What the House Remembers''
- short story published in ''Harper's Bazaar.''
''A Bruise the Size and Shape of a Door Handle''
- short story published at ''American Short Fiction''
''There Was a Fox in the Bedroom''
- short story published in ''The Boston Review'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Daisy Living people 1990 births 21st-century British novelists 21st-century English women writers 21st-century British short story writers Alumni of Lancaster University Alumni of Somerville College, Oxford English women novelists People from Paignton People from Saffron Walden Writers from Devon Writers from Essex