J. Ivanel Johnson
Categories: Female Authors - Anglophone Authors - Poets - Novelists - Dramatists - Saint John River Valley
Source: Author / auteure
Biography
J. Ivanel Johnson is the pen name for a (dis)Abled author/playwright who now resides on a remote farm in the Appalachians of New Brunswick, Canada near Southern Victoria. A former high school teacher, she strives always to write about marginalized and culturally diverse characters, many based on people from the First Nations, inner city, or mountain communities where she has previously lived and taught across the UK, USA, and Canada. While many of her shorter works (poetry, articles and short stories) can be found published in numerous print or online anthologies and literary journals, and her most recent musical Rough Notes was professionally workshopped in 2022 thanks to a grant from Canada Council for the Arts, her two whodunnit novels from the JUST (e)STATE series and partly set in the Upper River Valley of NB are published by Black Rose Writing (Castroville, TX). The latest, Just A STALE MATE was the 2023 Mystery/Crime Maxy Award Runner-Up and also won a 5 Gold-Star Award from Literary Titan.
How has New Brunswick influenced your work?
I have always loved living in mountain areas and find NB's Appalachians as close to my beloved green hills of England as I can get in my home nation. Thus, my latest series, a 'cozy/traditional whodunnit' group of novels has its elderly female amateur detective living here. (Her police consultant godson travels throughout much of Canada, however, and involves her wherever possible.)
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Literary Prizes |
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| Literary Titan Gold Book Award - 2023 | In recognition of: Just a Stale Mate |
| Runner-Up - Maxy Awards - Mystery & Crime - 2023 | In recognition of: Just a Stale Mate |
| SureFire - Playwright's Guild of Canada - 2022 | In recognition of: The Pistol's Report |
| Nomination - Aurora Award - 2020 | In recognition of: Nothing Without Us. Iron Bone |
| Silver Poet Award - 1986 |
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Featured Publication |
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Just a Still Life (2022) |
Excerpt: In the simpler times of 1971, Inspector Philip Steele, recently transferred to Fredericton, takes a well-deserved holiday visiting his beloved, elderly godmother in her quaint village nestled in the gently-rolling Appalachians of Atlantic Canada. But when a bank robbery and the murder of a teenage boy initiate a string of even more shocking events which wreak panic in the quiet community, Phil must return to long days of investigation with his oft-misquoting, black sergeant Zareb Woodbridge, who struggles with questioning some of the more racist locals. While Phil's godmother, P.J., secretly prepares her annual Harvest Moon Ritual to be used as a trap for the murderer, he himself has fallen in love with the accused... Phil finds he is not only urgently compelled to solve the crimes because it's his job, but to save the lives of those he has always loved. And those he has just begun to. Part of the Just (e)State mysteries series, set in 1969-1971. |
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Find this author in the New Brunswick public libraries catalogue.
Source(s): Author.
