The Current (Johnston) - Author Bio

Author Bio
• Birth—ca. 1962-63
• Where—Iowa City, Iowa, USA
• Education—University of Iowa; University of Massachusetts
• Awards—O'Henry Award
• Currently—lives in Iowa City, Iowa


Tim Johnston is best known as the author of the mystery/thrillers, The Current (2019) and Descent (2015). He was born and raised in Iowa City, Iowa, earning degrees from the University of Iowa and the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. He comes by his love of language naturally: his mother attended the famous Iowa Writers' Workshop for poetry and has written columns for the Des Moines (Iowa) Register, Iowa City Press-Citizen, and New York Times.

Johnston has also published a collection of short stories, The Irish Girl (2009), some of whose stories won The O'Henry Prize and other awards, while the collection as a whole won the Katherine Anne Porter Award. He is also the author of the young-adult novel, Never So Green (2005).

Johnston's stories have appeared in New England Review, New Letters, Iowa Review, Missouri Review, Double Take, Best Life Magazine, and Narrative Magazine, among others.

Before returning to Iowa City, where he now lives, Johnston taught writing at the University of Memphis and George Washington University, where he was a writer-in-residence. (Adapted from various online sources. Retrieved 1/28/2019 .)