ABOUT
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.
Her debut novel, The Kindest Lie, has been reviewed by The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times, and is featured on Entertainment Weekly’s Must List. It was a New York Times Editors’ Choice selection and has been named one of the most anticipated books of 2021 by Newsweek, O, the Oprah Magazine, Shondaland, NBC News, Marie Claire, ELLE, The Chicago Tribune, The New York Post, Good Housekeeping, Parade, Refinery29, and more. Booksellers nationwide selected her novel as an Indie Next pick and librarians chose it for LibraryReads. Nancy’s work has been published in Real Simple and O, The Oprah Magazine, and has received support from the Hurston/Wright Foundation, Tin House, and Kimbilio Fiction.
A graduate of Northwestern University and The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Nancy lives in downtown Chicago and leads corporate and internal communications for a large health care nonprofit. The Kindest Lie is her first novel.
HONORS AND FELLOWSHIPS
Runner-up, James Jones First Novel Fellowship Award, 2018
Fellow, Hurston/Wright Foundation Summer Writing Week, 2019
Fellow, Tin House Summer Workshop, 2018
Fellow, Kimbilio Fiction Summer Workshop, 2018
Winner, Dear Lucky Agent Contest for literary, upmarket & book club fiction, 2016
Finalist, Women’s Fiction Writers Association’s Rising Star contest, 2016
“Best Of” recognition by Eckerd College Writers in Paradise conference, 2015
INTERVIEWS
FEATURES
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Q&A
Tensions around race, class, and politics provide the backdrop for the story of Ruth, a Black engineer who returns to the rust-belt town of her youth to search for the child she gave up as a teen. Former TV journalist Nancy Johnson tells us some truths about her debut novel, which is set during President Obama’s first year in office. (Click image to read more.)
REAL SIMPLE
FRIENDSHIP IN BLACK AND WHITE: We all spend so much time with people who are just like us—who shop at the same stores, follow the same celebrities and politicians. But Nancy Johnson found the joy in stepping outside the echo chamber. (Click image to read more.)
