Milly Johnson

Last updated

Milly Johnson
Born (1964-02-23) 23 February 1964 (age 60)
Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England
OccupationWriter
Alma mater University of Exeter
Genre Romantic comedy/contemporary & literary
Children2
Website
millyjohnson.co.uk

Milly Johnson is a British author of romantic fiction. [1] She is also an after-dinner speaker, poet, professional joke writer, short story writer and newspaper columnist. [2]

Contents

Biography

Born in Barnsley on 23 February 1964, Johnson was educated at Agnes Road Primary School, Longcar Junior School, and Hall Balk School for Girls. Later, she studied drama and teacher training at St Luke's Campus, University of Exeter. [3]

She lived in Haworth, West Yorkshire for many years where she became a friend of Stan Barstow, who also lived there. [4] She had a series of administrative jobs whilst writing jokes and poems for the greetings card market to supplement her income, and she also became a ghostwriter on Purple Ronnie in its earliest days. [5] Later, she become a professional copywriter for the greetings card market. [6]

Her breakthrough into publishing came when Johnson was 40. She submitted a manuscript entitled The Yorkshire Pudding Club, based on her experience of being pregnant at the same time as two friends. [7] She secured her first two-book deal with Simon and Schuster in 2005. Since then she has written 21 novels, and has won a number of honours and awards.

She was nominated for the Melissa Nathan Award for Romantic comedy in 2012, [8] was a two-time winner of the RoNA Award for Comedy Romance in 2014 [9] and 2016, and was also a winner of Channel 4's Come Dine With Me – Barnsley edition. [10] She was honoured with the Romantic Novelists' Association's Outstanding Achievement Award in 2020. [11]

Hairy Biker Dave Myers has cited her as a favourite author and listened to the audio versions of Johnson's books. [12]

Books

Johnson also released four shorter novellas exclusive to ebook: The Wedding Dress, a collection of short stories related to weddings (2012) and Here Come the Boys (2014). Ladies Who Launch was written in 2015 as both a sequel to Here Come The Boys and an introduction to Afternoon Tea at the Sunflower Cafe. She released the 16,000 short story ebook The Barn on Half Moon Hill in May 2016 to raise funds for the Care for Claire fund to raise money for Claire Throssell, whose children were killed in a murder/suicide by their own father. In 2019, she released a book of poetry A Cat-Shaped Space, the profits of which were all donated to Yorkshire Cat Rescue. [13] In 2020, she also wrote a novella 'The Little Dreams of Lara Cliffe' for the resurrected 'Quick Reads' project to encourage adult reading.

Awards and honours

Johnson's books are published all over the world, in print, ebook, large print and audio form.

List of books

Ebook exclusives

Related Research Articles

Lindsey Davis is an English historical novelist, best known as the author of the Falco series of historical crime stories set in ancient Rome and its empire. She is a recipient of the Cartier Diamond Dagger award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nina Wadia</span> British actress (born 1968)

Nina Wadia is a British actress. She is known for portraying Zainab Masood in the BBC soap opera EastEnders, Aunty Noor in Citizen Khan, Mrs Hussein in the BBC comedy Still Open All Hours and for starring in the BBC Two sketch show Goodness Gracious Me.

Jane Holland is an English poet, novelist and astrologer. She won an Eric Gregory Award from the Society of Authors for her poetry in 1996 and her YA novel Witchstruck, written as Victoria Lamb, won the Romantic Novelists' Association's Young Adult Romantic Novel of the Year Award for 2013. Her sister is the novelist, actress and singer Sarah Holland. She also writes commercial fiction under various pseudonyms, including Betty Walker, JJ Holland, Victoria Lamb, Elizabeth Moss, Beth Good and Hannah Coates.

Jessica Rowley Pell Bird Blakemore is an American novelist. Under her maiden name, Jessica Bird, she writes contemporary romance novels, and as J.R. Ward, she writes paranormal romance. She is a three-time winner of the Romance Writers of America RITA Award, once as Bird for Best Short Contemporary Romance for From the First and twice as Ward for Best Paranormal Romance for Lover Revealed and Dearest Ivie, and her books have been on The New York Times Best Seller list.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jenny Colgan</span> Scottish writer

Jenny Colgan is a Scottish writer of romantic comedy fiction and science fiction. She has written for the Doctor Who line of stories. She writes under her own name and also using the pseudonyms Jane Beaton and J. T. Colgan.

Jill Mansell is a British author of romantic comedy. Her books have sold over fifteen million copies worldwide.

Veronica Henry is a Sunday Times bestselling British novelist, TV script writer and journalist. She has sold over 2.5 million copies of her books worldwide in 25 languages and 30 territories.

Cathy Kelly is an Irish writer of women's fiction and a former journalist. In 2001, her novel Someone Like You won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award from the Romantic Novelists' Association.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pamela Fryman</span> American television producer and director (born 1959)

Pamela Gail Fryman is an American sitcom director and producer. She was the principal director of the television series How I Met Your Mother, directing 196 of the show's 208 episodes.

Janet Gover is an Australian writer of over a dozen romance novels and more than 20 short stories since 2002. Her work has won numerous awards in the UK and the US, including the Romantic Novelists' Association's Epic Romantic Novel of the Year (2017) and Elizabeth Goudge Trophy (2007).

Nicola Cornick is a British writer of historical romance novels and time slip mysteries that merge multiple genres, including historical fiction, romance, suspense, adventure, crime, science fiction/fantasy and the supernatural. Her books have been translated into over 40 languages and she has won a number of awards.

Carole Matthews is a successful and popular British author, famous for her sense of humour and her romantic comedy novels. Her books have sold over 7.0 million books worldwide and have been published in more than 31 countries. In 2011, Matthews was inducted into the Festival of Romance Hall of Fame for her outstanding contribution to romance writing.

Lindsey Kelk is an English author, journalist and former children's book editor. She initially signed a up-to three-book deal with HarperCollins following the submission of a manuscript for her first novel. To date, she has published 19 adult books and is also the author of the children's series Cinders and Sparks.

The Romantic Novel of the Year Award is an award for romance novels since 1960, presented by Romantic Novelists' Association, and since 2003, the novellas, also won the Love Story of the Year.

Kerry Wilkinson is a British author and sports journalist born in Bath, Somerset.

Jane Lovering is a British writer of romance novels since 2008. In 2012, her novel Please Don't Stop the Music won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award by the Romantic Novelists' Association. In 2018, her book, Christmas at the Little Village School, won Love Story of the Year at the Romantic Novelists' Association awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Betty Gilpin</span> American actress (born 1986)

Elizabeth Folan Gilpin is an American actress. She is best known for portraying Debbie "Liberty Belle" Eagan in the Netflix comedy series GLOW (2017–2019), for which she was nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. She also starred as Dr. Carrie Roman in the Showtime comedy-drama series Nurse Jackie (2013–2015). In 2023, she starred in the lead role as a nun who battles A.I. in the Peacock science-fiction series Mrs. Davis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kate Johnson (writer)</span> British author

Kate Johnson, also known as Cat Marsters, is a British author who writes in the Paranormal and Speculative Romantic Novel genres. She is the author of the award-winning novel Max Seventeen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liz Fenwick</span> Award-winning American novelist living in Cornwall

Liz Fenwick is an American writer of commercial fiction, living in Cornwall, England. She has published nine novels and two novellas taking her inspiration from Cornwall's history and landscape, and in 2017 was named "the queen of the contemporary Cornish novel" by The Guardian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trisha Ashley</span> British writer

Trisha Ashley is a British author of romantic fiction. She has written over 27 novels, many of them Sunday Times Bestsellers, and has also published short stories and poetry. She was nominated for The Constable Trophy for Northern Writers in the 1980s, the Melissa Nathan Award for Romantic Comedy in 2009 and 2010, and the RoNA Award for Romantic Comedy Novel in 2018 and 2021. In 2024, her novel The Wedding Dress Repair Shop won the RoNA Award for Popular Fiction. In 2010 her novel Every Woman for Herself was voted one of The Three Best Romantic Novels of the Last 50 Years by the readers of Woman's Weekly in association with the Romantic Novelists Association (RNA).

References

  1. ↑ "Need cheering up right now? Try reading a romance novel". The Guardian. 9 March 2020. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
  2. ↑ "Milly's romantic recognition... – Barnsley News from the Barnsley Chronicle". Barnsley Chronicle. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
  3. ↑ "Barnsley author Milly Johnson on hope, romantic fiction and being 'a poster girl for giving it your best shot'". www.yorkshirepost.co.uk. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
  4. ↑ "The books that shaped me: Milly Johnson". Good Housekeeping. 20 July 2020. Retrieved 3 February 2025.
  5. ↑ "Milly Johnson". www.fantasticfiction.com. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
  6. ↑ "Yorkshire Businesswoman meets author Milly Johnson". Yorkshire Businesswoman. 2 June 2020. Retrieved 3 February 2025.
  7. ↑ "Yorkshire Businesswoman meets author Milly Johnson". Yorkshire Businesswoman. 2 June 2020. Retrieved 3 February 2025.
  8. ↑ "Colgan wins Melissa Nathan Award". The Bookseller. Retrieved 3 February 2025.
  9. ↑ "RNA – Romantic Novelist Association" . Retrieved 7 September 2020.
  10. ↑ "Programmes". BBC Food. Retrieved 3 February 2025.
  11. ↑ "Johnson wins RNA Outstanding Achievement Award". The Bookseller. Retrieved 3 February 2025.
  12. ↑ "Hairy Bikers chat arguing, home comforts and strangest things they've ever eaten". The Sun. 7 July 2018. Retrieved 3 February 2025.
  13. ↑ Gibson, Words: Bethan Hyatt-Photos: Kevin. "Milly Johnson – the best-selling on her love of Barnsley". Yorkshire Life. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
  14. 1 2 "The Mother of All Christmases by Milly Johnson – book review: The very essence of Christmas in one very special story!". www.lep.co.uk. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
  15. ↑ "Johnson wins RNA Outstanding Achievement Award | The Bookseller". www.thebookseller.com. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
  16. ↑ "My One True North by Milly Johnson: a dazzling, contemporary masterpiece, full of heart, soul and humour – book review -". www.lancasterguardian.co.uk. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.