K.V. Johansen
Categories: Female Authors - Anglophone Authors - Novelists - Authors of Young Adult Literature - Southeast
Source: Chris Paul
Biography
K.V. Johansen was born in Kingston, Ontario. She has a B.A. from Mount Allison University and Master’s Degrees from the Centre for Medieval Studies at the University of Toronto and from McMaster University. She now lives in the Sackville area of New Brunswick. She is the author of the Pippin and Mabel picture books, the Torrie series, the Warlocks of Talverdin series for teens, The Storyteller and Other Tales, and a number of other works of fantasy, science fiction, and literary criticism.
How has New Brunswick influenced your work?
My Cassandra Virus series is about a couple of kids from New Brunswick in the near future, Jordan O’Blenis and Helen Chan-Fisher, who live in the town of Easter River, at the head of the Bay of Fundy. For that series, especially the first book, I used the landscape of the Tantramar region as the setting.
What is your favourite New Brunswick book, and why?
I don’t really have a single favourite New Brunswick book. I enjoy the poetry of Douglas Lochhead, especially Millwood Road Poems and Looking into Trees. Both are books written out of a strong sense of place (though the former isn’t about New Brunswick).
What do you consider to be the highlight of your career so far?
Nightwalker being listed on the VOYA best fantasy, science fiction, and horror list was quite a thrill. That list had books by Terry Pratchett, Diana Wynne Jones, and Glen Cook on it, so I was included among not only authors of international repute, but my favourites. Being invited to attend the launch of the Macedonian translation of Torrie and the Snake-Prince in the Republic of Macedonia was also really exciting. The critical praise Quests and Kingdoms has earned is another highlight of my career thus far. That book was five years of research and writing; for it to be put in the company of the great twentieth-century works on fantasy literature is very satisfying.
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Literary Prizes |
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| Nomination - Snow Willow Award - 2008-09 | In recognition of: Nightwalker |
| Nomination - Hackmatack Children's Choice Book Award - 2008-09 | In recognition of: Torrie and the Snake-Prince |
| Ann Connor Brimer Book Award - 2008 | In recognition of: Nightwalker |
| Selected, Pennsylvania School Librarians Association Young Adult Top Forty List - 2007 | In recognition of: The Cassandra Virus |
| Nomination - Selected, Ontario Library Association (OLA) Best Bets : Reading for Children - 2007 | In recognition of: Nightwalker |
| Selected, Booklist : Best Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror, VOYA - 2007 | In recognition of: Nightwalker |
| Selected, 40 Great Summer Reads, Canadian Family magazine - 2007 | In recognition of: The Cassandra Virus |
| Honourable Mention, Ontario Library Association (OLA) Best Bets : Reading for Children - 2007 | In recognition of: Torrie and the Snake-Prince |
| Selected, Year’s Best List, Resource Links - 2007 | In recognition of: Torrie and the Snake-Prince |
| Selected, Canadian Children’s Book Centre, “Our Choice” - 2007 | In recognition of: The Cassandra Virus |
| Nomination - Shortlisted, Canadian Association of Children’s Librarians' Book of the Year for Children Award - 2007 | In recognition of: The Cassandra Virus |
| Selected, Ontario Library Association (OLA) Best Bets : Reading for Children - 2006 | In recognition of: Torrie and the Firebird |
| Nomination - Diamond Willow Award - 2006 | In recognition of: Torrie and the Pirate Queen |
| Nomination - Silver Birch Award - 2006 | In recognition of: Torrie and the Pirate Queen |
| Selected, Canadian Children’s Book Centre, “Our Choice” - 2006 | In recognition of: Torrie and the Pirate Queen |
| Lilla Stirling Award, Canadian Author’s Association (Nova Scotia) - 2006 | In recognition of: Torrie and the Pirate Queen |
| Shortlisted, Harvey Darton Award (UK) - 2006 | In recognition of: Quests and Kingdoms |
| Frances E. Russell Grant - 2004 | In recognition of: Beyond Window-Dressing |
| Lieutenant Governor's Early Childhood Literacy Award - 2000 | In recognition of: Série Pipin and Mabel |
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Featured Publication |
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The Shadow Road: The Warlocks of Talverdin Book IV (2010) |
Excerpt: Panic made me try to sit up. I discovered I was too weak to do so, just as well, or I would probably have bashed my head and knocked myself out again. But I was not dreaming. I was…I was… In a coffin. I smelt of death, of rotting flesh. |
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Find this author in the New Brunswick public libraries catalogue.
Source(s): Author
