A native of Chicago’s South Side, Nancy Johnson worked for more than a decade as an Emmy-nominated, award-winning television journalist at CBS and ABC affiliates in markets nationwide. Nancy’s second novel, PEOPLE OF MEANS, a story of race, class, and resistance in 1960s Nashville and 1992 Chicago, released earlier this year from William Morrow/HarperCollins.   PEOPLE Magazine named it one of its most anticipated books for 2025, calling it “beautifully crafted” and “propulsive.” NPR described it as an “important, thought-provoking novel.” People of Means has also been featured as one of the best books of 2025 by Woman’s World, Real Simple, NPR, and Southern Living magazines.

Nancy’s debut novel, THE KINDEST LIE, was reviewed by The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times, and was highlighted on Entertainment Weekly’s Must List. Her first novel was a New York Times Editors’ Choice selection and was named one of the most anticipated books of 2021 by Newsweek, O, the Oprah Magazine, Shondaland, NBC News, Marie Claire, ELLE, The Chicago Tribune, Good Housekeeping, Parade, Refinery29, and more.

A graduate of Northwestern University and The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Nancy lives in downtown Chicago where she’s a director of brand journalism and storytelling for a large health care nonprofit.