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

Cheltenham Cheltenham () is a historic spa town and borough adjacent to the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort following the discovery of mineral springs in 1716, and claims to be the mo ...

, 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 is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, Scotland, and attended university there.

Novels

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

AK Press AK Press is a workers' self-management, worker-managed, independent publisher and book distributor that specializes in publishing books about anarchism and the Far-left politics, radical left. Operated out of Chico, California, United States, ...

Oakland Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major West Coast port, Oakland is ...

, California, was selected as a Herald Book of the Year by

Helen Fitzgerald Helen FitzGerald (born 1966) is an Australian novelist and screenwriter. Her debut novel, ''Dead Lovely'', was published by Allen & Unwin in 2007, and ''The Exit'' in 2015 by Faber & Faber. ''Viral'' was released in 2016. Background She was r ...

. 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, was written for a PhD in Creative Writing at the

University of Gloucestershire The University of Gloucestershire is a public university based in Gloucestershire, England. It is located over five campuses, three in Cheltenham and two in Gloucester. The university is the successor of a large number of merged, name-changed ...

. 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 The Trojan War was a legendary conflict in Greek mythology that took place around the twelfth or thirteenth century BC. The war was waged by the Achaeans (Homer), Achaeans (Ancient Greece, Greeks) against the city of Troy after Paris (mytho ...

. 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 also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

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