Wayne Johnston

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Wayne Johnston

Wayne Johnston (* 1958 in St. John's , Newfoundland ) is a Canadian writer.

Life

Johnston grew up in Goulds , southwest of his birthplace, and was raised Catholic . When he was eighteen he attended St. John's college. He studied at Memorial University of Newfoundland , where he graduated in 1978 with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in English literature. He then worked for three years as a newspaper reporter for the St. John's Daily News . In 1981 Johnston moved to Ottawa and devoted himself entirely to writing. In 1983 he graduated from the University of New Brunswick with a Magister artium (MA).

His novel The Divine Ryans won an award in 1991. Johnston made his big breakthrough with his novel The Colony of Unfulfilled Dreams . In it he describes the life of the Newfoundland politician Joey Smallwood , the first Prime Minister of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador . At the age of fourteen, Johnston read a biography of the legendary politician.

Johnston has lived in Toronto ( Ontario Province ) since 1989 . In 2002 he was Writer-in-Residence at Hollins University in Virginia . From 2004 to 2009 he was Distinguished Chair in Creative Writing there .

Self-testimony

In the book The Land of My Fathers , Johnston shares his family history. According to this, his ancestors are small farmers who emigrated from Ireland and became fishermen in Newfoundland . A well-respected farrier - grandfather Charlie Johnston († January 14, 1949) - also belongs to the ancestral line. Johnston's novels are mostly about Newfoundland and go into the history of the island.

Johnston, who lived mostly in Toronto from 1980 to 1992, says of himself and his home memories that he could not write about Newfoundland while he lived there. Rather, a proper distance from the island is almost necessary for homesickness to Newfoundland and thus the best possible writing drive.

Journalistic work

In an essay about the collaboration with his translators, which was probably meant to be satirical, but not marked as satire, published in Walrus Magazine , Johnston describes various hair-raising experiences with his German, Dutch and Japanese translators, although it is quite funny, but somewhat colossal and cheap. Above all, the exaggerated representation of the German team is largely based on German clichés and should have little to do with his actual translator contacts, although he gives the impression that it is a description of reality.

Publications

  • 1985 The Story of Bobby O'Malley
  • 1987 The Time of Their Lives
  • 1990 The Divine Ryans .
    • Translated by Christa Prummer-Lehmair, Robert A. Weiss: The divine Ryans.
  • 1994 Human Amusements
  • 1998 The Colony of Unrequited Dreams
  • 1999 Baltimore's Mansion. A memoir .
  • 2002 The Navigator of New York , ISBN 0-09-944489-5
  • 2006 The Custodian of Paradise

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Louis D. Rubin, Jr. Writer-in-Residence .
  2. ↑ walrusmagazine.com ( Memento from July 4, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
personal data
SURNAME Johnston, Wayne
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian writer
DATE OF BIRTH 1958
PLACE OF BIRTH St. John's (Newfoundland)