Adam Johnson

Adam Johnson is an American novelist and short story writer born on July 12, 1967, in South Dakota. Raised in Tempe, Arizona, he earned a BA in Journalism from Arizona State University, an MFA from McNeese State University, and a PhD from Florida State University. He is a professor of English at Stanford University, specialising in creative writing, where he founded the Stanford Graphic Novel Project. Johnson gained prominence with his 2012 novel The Orphan Master's Son, a daring exploration of life in North Korea that won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. His 2015 short story collection Fortune Smiles earned the National Book Award for Fiction. Earlier works include the novel Parasites Like Us (2003) and Emporium (2002). His fiction typically features isolated characters on society's edges, blending melancholy, absurdity, and futuristic elements.