Denis Johnson

[AUTHORITY: WIKIPEDIA]
This article is about the American writer. For the UK inventor, see Denis Johnson (inventor). For the Irish writer, see Denis Johnston. For others with similar names, see Dennis Johnson (disambiguation).

Education University of Iowa (BA, MFA)
Period 1969–2017
Genre Fiction, nonfiction
Notable works Angels
Jesus' Son
Train Dreams
Tree of Smoke
Notable awards National Book Award; National Poetry Series award

Denis Hale Johnson (July 1, 1949 – May 24, 2017) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and poet. He is perhaps best known for his debut short story collection, Jesus' Son (1992). His most successful novel, Tree of Smoke (2007), won the National Book Award for Fiction. Johnson was twice shortlisted for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Altogether, Johnson was the author of nine novels, one novella, two books of short stories, three collections of poetry, two collections of plays, and one book of reportage. His final work, a book of short stories titled The Largesse of the Sea Maiden, was published posthumously in 2018. Ted Geltner's biography of the writer, Flagrant, Self-Destructive Gestures, appeared in late 2025.