Michael Craft Johnson (born 1950), who goes by the pen name Michael Craft, is an American author of gay and lesbian mystery novels. His 2019 novel ''ChoirMaster'' won the IBPA Benjamin Franklin Award for LGBTQ, and four of his novels have been finalists for the

Lambda Literary Award for Gay Mystery The Lambda Literary Award for Mystery is an annual literary award, presented by the Lambda Literary Foundation, to a mystery novel by or about people in the LGBT community. Prior to 2021, the award was separated into separate categories for Gay ...

Personal life

In 1950, Craft was born in

Elgin, Illinois Elgin ( ) is a city in Cook and Kane counties in the northern part of the U.S. state of Illinois. Elgin is located northwest of Chicago, along the Fox River. As of the 2020 Census, the city had a population of 114,797, the seventh-larg ...

, where he remained until he ventured to the

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Uni ...

. In the 1980s, he moved to

Kenosha, Wisconsin Kenosha () is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the seat of Kenosha County. Per the 2020 census, the population was 99,986 which made it the fourth-largest city in Wisconsin. Situated on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan, Keno ...

. Craft met his now husband, Leon, in 1982. In 2005, Craft and Leon moved near

Palm Springs, California Palm Springs (Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Riverside County by la ...

. When California legalized same-sex marriage in 2013, Craft and Leon were wed. The couple now lives in

Rancho Mirage, California Rancho Mirage is a city in Riverside County, California, United States. The population was 17,218 at the 2010 census, up from 13,249 at the 2000 census, but the seasonal (part-time) population can exceed 20,000. Incorporated in 1973 and located ...

Education

As a child, Craft attended Catholic grade school for eight years, then became a student at Elgin Academy, then a private boarding school, where he graduated as class

valedictorian Valedictorian is an academic title for the highest-performing student of a graduating class of an academic institution. The valedictorian is commonly determined by a numerical formula, generally an academic institution's grade point average (GPA) ...

. Craft studied graphic design at the

. He pursued a graduate degree at the Institute for Communications Research but dropped out in 1976. Craft later received a

Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts a ...

Creative writing Creative writing is any writing that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on narrative craft, character development, and the use of literar ...

from Antioch University, Los Angeles.

Career

Craft began his career at the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...

'' as an art director, a position he held for 10 years. While at the ''Tribune'', he moved to

and traveled to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

by train, during which he wrote the first draft of his debut novel. Craft left the ''Tribune'' in 1987 to work for his partner's family-owned business, which manufactured musical wind instruments. During his time, he was able to focus on his writing. In 1991, Craft's debut novel, ''Rehearsing'', was accepted by Los Hombres Press, a small publisher of gay writing in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

. The book was released in February 1993. In the early 2000s, Craft began playwriting and screenwriting. His stage play ''Photo Flash'' was performed in 2003 in Wisconsin, then in 2008 in California. In 2011, he was involved in the production of ''Pink Squirrels'', a short, independent film.

Awards

Publications

Novels

* ''The Macguffin'' (2011) * ''Inside Dumont: A Novel in Stories'' (2016) * ''Desert Getaway'' (2022)

Claire Gray series

* ''Rehearsing'' (1993) * ''Desert Autumn'' (2001) * ''Desert Winter'' (2003) * ''Desert Spring'' (2004) * ''Desert Summer'' (2005)

Mark Manning Mysteries

* ''Flight Dreams'' (1997) * ''Eye Contact'' (1998) * ''Body Language'' (1999) * ''Name Games'' (2000) * ''Boy Toy'' (2001) * ''Hot Spot'' (2002) * ''Bitch Slap'' (2004)

Mister Puss series

* ''FlabberGassed'' (2018) * ''ChoirMaster'' (2019) * ''HomeComing'' (2020)

Anthology contributions

* ''Chase The Moon: Issue One'', edited by Matt Creswell (2014) * ''Palm Springs Noir'', edited by Barbara DeMarco-Barrett (2021)

Plays

* ''Photo Flash'' (2003, 2008)

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Craft, Michael Living people 1950 births University of Illinois College of Liberal Arts and Sciences alumni Writers from Illinois Antioch University alumni