Biographical Sketch

The University Book Fair 2018 is honored to have the participation of Adam Johnson as Distinguished Visiting Professor of the UAEH, being one of the most recognized authors of the new generation, Johnson teaches creative writing at Stanford University, and he is the winner of the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for “An exquisitely crafted novel that carries the reader on an adventuresome journey into the depths of totalitarian North Korea and into the most intimate spaces of the human heart”. (The 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, n.d.).

Mr. Johnson earned a PhD in English from Florida State University in 2000, an MFA from the writing program at McNeese State University in 1996; and a BA in Journalism from Arizona State University in 1992. Mr. Johnson has been awarded by his outstanding work such as: winner of a Whiting Award and Fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts and the American Academy in Berlin, he is the author of several books, including Fortune Smiles, which won the 2015 National Book Award, and the novel The Orphan Master’s Son, which was awarded the 2013 Pulitzer Prize.

Johnson's work has been translated into more than 35 languages. His work focus on characters at the edge of society for whom isolation and disconnection are nearly permanent conditions. His fiction has appeared in Esquire, GQ, Playboy, Harper’s Magazine, Granta, Tin House and The Best American Short Stories.

Among his awards, these are the most important:

• 2016 Story Prize for Fortune Smiles
• 2015 National Book Award for Fiction for Fortune Smiles
• 2014 Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award for "Nirvana"
• 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for The Orphan Master's Son
• 2013 Dayton Literary Peace Prize for The Orphan Master's Son
• 2010 National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship
• 2010 Gina Berriault Literary Award.
• 2009 Whiting Award