Jennifer Johnston

Jennifer Prudence Johnston was born on 12 January 1930 in Dublin, Ireland, the daughter of Irish actress and director Shelah Richards and Irish playwright Denis Johnston. She studied Ancient and Modern Literature at Trinity College, graduating in 1965. 

Johnston published her first novel, The Captains and the Kings (1972), at the age of 42, which won the Authors’ Club First Novel Award, the Robert Pitman Award and the Yorkshire Post Award. She quickly followed up on her success with her next two novels, The Gates (1972) and How Many Miles to Babylon? (1974). Her fourth novel, Shadows on Our Skin (1977), was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and her fifth, The Old Jest (1979), won a Whitbread Book Award – establishing her reputation. The Old Jest was later adapted into a 1988 film under the name The Dawning, which was received well by critics, winning awards at the Montreal World Film Festival and the Austin Texas International Film Festival. 

In addition to her over two dozen novels, Johnston is also a successful playwright – having produced both stage and radio plays, including The Nightingale and Not the Lark (1980), Three Monologues: Twinkletoes, Mustn't Forget High Noon, Christine (1995) and O Ananias, Azarias and Misael (1989), which won a Giles Cooper Award. 

For her contribution to Irish literature, she received the Irish PEN Award in 2006, the 2012 Irish Book Awards Lifetime Achievement Award and was elected a member of Aosdána. 

She died at 95 years old in February 2025 in Dublin.