Maureen Johnson

Maureen Johnson (born February 16, 1973) is an American author of young adult fiction. Her published novels include series leading titles such as 13 Little Blue Envelopes, The Name of the Star, Truly Devious, and Suite Scarlett. Among Johnson's works are collaborative efforts such as Let It Snow, a holiday romance novel of interwoven stories co-written with John Green and Lauren Myracle, and a series of novellas found in New York Times bestselling anthologies The Bane Chronicles, Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy, and Ghosts of the Shadow Market.

Early life and education

Johnson was born in Philadelphia and attended an all-girl Catholic preparatory high school. She graduated from the University of Delaware in 1995 with a degree in English. Johnson later worked variously as literary manager of a Philadelphia theater company, a waitress in a theme restaurant, a secretary, a bartender in Piccadilly, and an occasional performer in New York City. She studied both writing and theatrical dramaturgy at Columbia University, where she received her MFA in Writing.

Literary career

Johnson's debut novel The Key to the Golden Firebird was published in May 2004 by HarperTeen. The Key to the Golden Firebird entered the market during a resurgence of popular interest in the young adult fiction genre. In 2005, it received starred reviews from both School Library Journal and Booklist.

Johnson's second published novel, The Bermudez Triangle (later reissued as On the Count of Three in 2013), was released in October 2004. It was selected as a Winter 2004 Book Sense Pick, as well as listed for New York Public Library's “Books for the Teen Age 2006”, and the American Library Association's Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults, LGBTQ list.

In August 2005, 13 Little Blue Envelopes was published by HarperTeen. Johnson herself has said she considers Ginny's adventure to be "a little bit of a fairy tale," and has cited the song "Charmed Life" by Irish artist Neil Hannon of The Divine Comedy for its likeness to the spirit with which the novel was written. The second novel, The Last Little Blue Envelope, was later published in April 2011.

Devilish, Johnson's fourth novel, was published in September 2006. Marking Johnson's first full departure from contemporary realistic fiction, Devilish was shortlisted in 2007 for the Andre Norton Award, which is for YA science fiction and fantasy novel writing.

Johnson's sixth novel and the beginning of her second series, Suite Scarlett, was published in May 2008. Suite Scarlett was selected by the American Library Association for their list Best Books for Young Adults 2009, and received a starred review by Booklist.

On November 27, 2009, Johnson first became a New York Times bestselling author when Let It Snow: Three Holiday Romances (October 2008, Speak) reached number ten on the Children's Paperback list. A holiday romance novel of interwoven stories co-written with John Green and Lauren Myracle, Let It Snow begins with Johnson's "The Jubilee Express". A Netflix adaptation of the same name was released in 2019.

The Name of the Star, Johnson's tenth novel, was published in September 2011. The first of four titles set within the Shades of London series. In 2012, The Name of the Star was nominated for an Edgar Award in the category of young adult fiction. The second and third Shades novels, The Madness Underneath and The Shadow Cabinet, were published in February 2013 and February 2015, respectively.

Meanwhile in 2011, Johnson became the ongoing lead coordinator of LeakyCon's Lit Track programming, the literary focused experience for fans of young adult fiction more broadly, a production of Mischief Management. Topics of the Lit Track have included the importance of supporting diversity within young adult literature, the experience of writing romance fiction that respects teenaged characters, use of critical thinking in examining the labels we ascribe to particular kinds of fiction, and panels discussing the stories that authors of popular fiction first wrote for themselves in their teenage years.

In March 2014, Johnson was selected to represent the YA category for World Book Day in the United Kingdom with the first publication of her novella The Boy in the Smoke, a prequel story to the Shades of London series. That August, The Boy in the Smoke was additionally released to an international audience for free through the online reading and story writing platform Wattpad.

In November 2014, The Bane Chronicles, an anthology of novellas was released

In November 2016, Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy, an anthology of novellas was released

How I Resist: Activism and Hope for a New Generation (Wednesday Books, 2018) is a collection of essays, songs, illustrations, and interviews on the topics of activism and hope, with all author proceeds donated to support the ACLU.

Truly Devious (Katherine Tegen Books, 2018) is the first in a trilogy of mystery novels to follow Stevie Bell. The second novel, The Vanishing Stair, was published January 2019 and the third and concluding novel of the trilogy, The Hand on the Wall, was published January 2020. A fourth novel, and the series' first standalone title, The Box in the Woods was released in June 2021. A fifth novel, and again a standalone title, Nine Liars was released in December 2022.

Social media presence, advocacy, and activism

Johnson has maintained a personal website about her work and experiences as an author since 2005, with blog entries dating as far back as August of that year. In June 2008, she joined then new micro-blogging platform Twitter as one of its early users, where she has likened her many posts to the habit she had developed of leaving post-it notes around for others to read while working in theater productions.