Adam Johnson

Adam Johnson (born July 12, 1967) is an American novelist and short story writer. He won the Pulitzer Prize for his 2012 novel, The Orphan Master's Son, and the National Book Award for his 2015 story collection Fortune Smiles. He is also a professor of English at Stanford University with a focus on creative writing. Early life Johnson was born in South Dakota and was raised in Tempe, Arizona. He is part Sioux. His grandmother was a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe. Education Johnson earned a BA in Journalism from Arizona State University in 1992, though he studied principally with the fiction writer Ron Carlson. He earned an MFA from the writing program at McNeese State University in 1996, where he studied with Robert Olen Butler and John Wood. In 2001, he earned a PhD in English from Florida State University. Janet Burroway directed his dissertation. Career Johnson is currently a San Francisco writer and professor in creative writing at Stanford University. He founded the Stanford Graphic Novel Project and was named "one of the nation's most influential and imaginative college professors" by Playboy magazine and "one of the most impressive professors at Stanford" by Business Insider.