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Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Authors

Charles R. Johnson

Added By: Rhondak101
Last Updated: Rhondak101


Charles R. Johnson

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Full Name: Charles Richard Johnson
Born: April 23, 1948
Evanston, IL
Occupation: Author, Artist, Scholar
Nationality:
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Biography

Charles Richard Johnson is an African-American scholar and the author of novels, short stories, screen-and-teleplays, and essays, most often with a philosophical orientation. Johnson has directly addressed the issues of black life in America in novels such as Dreamer and Middle Passage. Johnson was born in 1948 in Evanston, Illinois and spent most of his career at the University of Washington in Seattle.

The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English says that Johnson's works "combine historical accuracy, parable, and elements of the fantastic in rendering the experience of African Americans."

Middle Passage won the U.S. National Book Award for Fiction in 1990, making him the second African-American man to receive this prize after Ralph Ellison in 1953. Johnson's acceptance speech was a tribute to Ellison. Johnson received a MacArthur Fellowship or "Genius Grant" in 1998. He is also the recipient of National Endowment For The Arts and Guggenheim Fellowships, and many other prizes such as a 2002 Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and his most recent award is The Humanities Washington Award 2013 for creating and contributing for 15 years a new, original short story to a literary event called "Bedtime Stories," which since 1998 has raised a million dollars for the literacy programs of the non-profit organization Humanities Washington.In 2003, the Charles Johnson Society was inaugurated at the American Literature Association.

Until his retirement in 2009, Johnson was the S. Wilson and Grace M. Pollock Endowed Professor of English at the University of Washington.


Works in the WWEnd Database

 Non Series Works

 (1990)