Maureen Johnson

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Maureen Johnson (born February 16, 1973) is an American author of young adult fiction.

To date, she has written thirteen books, including 13 Little Blue Envelopes, The Name of the Star, Truly Devious, and Suite Scarlett.

Among Johnson's contributions are Let It Snow, a holiday romance book co-written with John Green and Lauren Myracle, and a collection of novellas found in the New York Times and USA Today bestselling anthologies The Bane Chronicles, Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy, and Ghosts of the Shadow Market, among her many collaboration efforts.

Early life and education

Johnson was born in Philadelphia and attended an all-girl Catholic preparatory high school. She graduated from the University of Delaware with a degree in English in 1995. Johnson then served as literary manager of a Philadelphia theater company, a waitress in a themed restaurant, a bartender in Piccadilly, and an occasional performer in New York City. At Columbia University, where she earned her MFA in Writing, she studied both writing and dramatic dramaturgy.

Personal life

Johnson lives in New York City. She has often expressed her passion for both vegan and vegetarian cooking in blog posts and tweets. "I'm a vegetarian from Philadelphia, which means I spend my entire life trying to make a vegetarian steak sandwich."

Johnson married in Central Park, New York, on June 23, 2018. The reception was held shortly after at Housing Works, a non-profit bookstore and venue space whose aim is to solve the two crises of homelessness and AIDS. "There was no safer place to host a party on Pride Weekend," she wrote on Twitter.

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Literary career

HarperTeen published Johnson's debut book The Key to the Golden Firebird in May 2004. The novel, which is centered around themes of grief and hope and set in Philadelphia's suburbs a year after his death, portrays three sisters of differing ages as they process and come to know their father's death and plan to make their own decisions about their father's death and what they should do in the future. During a revival of popular interest in the young adult fiction genre, the Golden Firebird came back to the market. Both School Library Journal and Booklist awarded it starred reviews in 2005.

The Bermudez Triangle, Johnson's second published book (later reissued as On the Count of Three), was published in October 2004. Nina, Avery, and Melanie, three high school seniors who have been best friends since childhood, all of whom have been dating anonymously since the summer, the Bermudez Triangle explores the subtleties of love and self-identity, from the changing nature of marriages to the gifts and challenges of first dates. It was selected as a winter 2004 Book Sense Pick, as well as a New York Public Library's "Books for the Teenagers 2006" and the American Library Association's Best Paperbacks for Young Adults, LGBTQ list.

HarperTeen published 13 Little Blue Envelopes in August 2005. The story follows seventeen-year-old Virginia (Ginny) Blackstone as she begins a journey through Europe by following a series of instructions received from her beloved, self-proclaimed "Runaway Aunt" Peg upon notice of her death. While writing in the style of contemporary realistic fiction that much of her earlier work has been known for, Johnson has described Ginny's tale as "a little bit of a fairy tale" and has referred to the theme with which the book was written. In April 2011, The Last Little Blue Envelope, Elizabeth's second book, was released.

In September 2006, Devilish, Johnson's fourth book, was published. "Barbed wire keeps the boys out, and the ancient nuns keep the girls in," Devogue writes about Jane and Allison (Ally) as they experience seemingly supernatural upheavals within their friendship and school year, culminating in what seems to be a war for Ally's soul. Devilish, Marking Johnson's first complete departure from contemporary realistic fiction, was shortlisted for the Andre Norton Award in 2007, which honors excellence in YA science fiction and fantasy novel writing.

HarperTeen published Girl at Sea in May 2007. Clio Ford, seventeen years old, is the book's protagonist, who is eager to make the best of being forced to leave her house for the summer in search of a cryptic treasure overseas. It's primarily aboard a pre-owned yacht anchored in the Mediterranean at the behest of her father's behest as she grapples with her first romantic infatuations, dives at sea amid shipwrecks, and a string of new relationships and situations.

Suite Scarlett, Johnson's sixth book and the beginning of her second series, was published in May 2008. It chronicles Scarlett Martin's family's relationship with the Hopewell Hotel, which lives within and personally run the hotel. The Hopewell is a local institution in need of both repairs and visitors. It is described as a tiny "jewel box of a hotel" built in the heart of Manhattan's Upper East Side during Art Deco style. Scarlett explores family dynamics, getting old, and some of the strange opportunities of New York City for those who work in or near the performing arts. Scarlett is given the keys to one of their home's suites, as well as the opportunity of looking after guests, on her fifteenth birthday. Mrs. Amberson, Scarlett's attempts to satisfy the eccentric needs of the Empire Suite's first and presumably permanent tenant, are the source of much of her formative years. Suite Scarlett was voted by the American Library Association for their list of the Top Books for Young Adults 2009, and by Booklist, it was praised.

Johnson, Claudia Gray, Kevin Watson, and Sarah Mlynowski contributed their story "The Law of Suspects" to Vacations from Hell, a collection of supernatural stories about vacations gone wrong.

When Let It Snow: Three Holiday Romances (October 2008, Speak) reached the top of the Children's Paperback list, Johnson first became a New York Times Bestseller author. Let It Snow, a holiday romance collection of interwoven stories co-written with John Green and Lauren Myracle, is the first installment of "The Jubilee Express," a holiday romance book co-written by Johnson and Lauren Myracle. The book is currently in film form, with Netflix's distribution scheduled for a November 2019 debut.

In 2009, Johnson served as a scriptwriter for EA Games, assisting with the creation of the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince video game on Nintendo DS and PSP.

Scarlett Fever, Johnson's eighth book and second title in the Scarlett series, were released in February 2010. According to Johnson, a third installment in the Scarlett story was well underway in June 2014, but no further information has been released since then. Both titles were getting their first publication in the United Kingdom by Hot Key Books, Bonnier Group's imprint.

In September 2010, Johnson wrote "The Children of the Revolution" to Zombies vs. Unicorns, edited by Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier. Each of the twelve stories in Zombies vs. Unicorns intends to make a case for their respective parties. Cassandra Clare, Libba Bray, Meg Cabot, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Carrie Ryan, Scott Westerfeld, Garth Nix, Katherine Duey, Margo Lanagan, Miranda Peterfreund, and Margo Lanagan are among the anthology's fellow authors.

In September 2011, Johnson's tenth book, The Name of the Star, was published. The Name of the Star, the first of four titles in the Shades of London series, follows Louisiana teenager Rory Deveaux as she travels to London to begin boarding school, where she is immediately pulled into the heart of a world of paranormal murders resembling Jack the Ripper's. In 2012, The Name of the Star was nominated for an Edgar Award for excellence in the field of young adult fiction. The Madness Underneath and The Shadow Cabinet, both Shades books, were released in February 2013 and February 2015, respectively. A new book has been announced to bring the series to an end, with a publication date set to be announced sometime after January 2020.

In 2011, Johnson became LeakyCon's Lit Track programming, the literary focused experience for fans of young adult fiction became more popular. LeakyCon, a division of Mischief Management, is the country's biggest Harry Potter fan convention. The Lit Track's topics included supporting diversity in young adult literature, the appreciation of teenage protagonists in writing romance novels, the use of critical thinking in determining the terms we ascribe to particular types of fiction, and panels discussing the stories that authors of popular fiction first wrote for themselves in their teenage years.

Johnson was chosen to represent the YA category in the United Kingdom for World Book Day in March 2014, a prequel to the Shades of London series. Through the online reading and story writing service Wattpad, that August, The Boy in the Smoke was also available to an international audience.

Margaret K. McElderry Books' The Bane Chronicles, an anthology of novellas written with fellow young adult fiction writers Cassandra Clare and Sarah Rees Brennan, was first published in hardcover in November 2014. Each title was first published in ebook and downloadable audiobook formats prior to its printout as a collection anthology. The Bane Chronicles is set in the same universe as Clare's The Mortal Instruments and The Infernal Devices series, with the intention being to explore the life of the "enigmatic Magnus Bane," a character in Clare's "alluring personality, flamboyant style, and sharp wit." The Runaway Queen (May 2013), The Rise of the Hotel Dumort (August 2013), and The Last Stand of the New York Institute (December 2013, co-written with Clare and Sarah Rees Brennan). The Bane Chronicles have appeared on the New York Times bestsellers list for children's series a number of times, beginning the week of July 7, 2013.

Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy, an anthology of novellas written by fellow young adult fiction writers Cassandra Clare, Sarah Rees Brennan, and Robin Wasserman, first published in hardcover by Margaret K. McElderry Books in November 2016. Each title was first released in ebook and downloadable audiobook formats prior to its print release as a collection anthology. Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy are described as an epilogue to Clare's Mortal Instruments story, exploring Simon Lewis' experiences, who now finds himself stripped of his memories and uncertain about his identity, but determined to figure it out as his journey continues. The Whitechapel Fiend (April 2015) and The Fiery Trial (September 2015) are two of Johnson's main contributions and debuts.

How I Resist: Activism and Hope for a New Generation (Wednesday Books, 2018) is a collection of essays, songs, photographs, and interviews about activism and hope, with all author funds donated to the ACLU. The anthology was edited by Johnson and spurred by her desire to help young readers decide how they can relate to the political climate in the United States post the 2016 presidential election. Junauda Petrus, Jacqueline Woodson, Malinda Lo, Jason Reynolds, Dana Schwartz, Jodi Picoult, Sabaa Tahir, Hebh Jamal, Libba Bray, John Paul Brammer, and more contributed.

Truly Devious (Katherine Tegen Books, 2018) is the first in a planned trilogy of mystery books to follow Stevie Bell, a true crime buff who is determined to begin studies at the exclusive yet optimistic Ellingham Academy in Vermont's remote mountains, where she is ready to devote her energies to one of America's greatest unsolved crimes. In January 2019, The Vanishing Stair, the second book in the series, was published. The Hand on the Wall, the third and concluding book in the trilogy, was published in January 2020. In June 2021, The Box in the Woods, a fourth book in the series, and the series's first standalone title, The Box in the Woods, was published. The author's second standalone book of the series was revealed in July 2021, much to the author's surprise, but as yet unidentified fifth entry.

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Awards and nominations

• 13 Little Blue Envelopes - ALA Teens' Top Ten 2006
• Devilish - 2007 Andre Norton Award nomination
• "Most Interesting Twitter User to Follow" Mashable Open Web Awards 2009
• Ranked as number 15 of TIME's "The 140 Best Twitter Feeds of 2011"
• The Name of the Star - YALSA 2012 Best Fiction for Young Adults<
• The Name of the Star - Edgar Award nomination for excellence in Young Adult fiction