Leslie Johnson
Leslie Johnson’s fiction has been broadcast on NPR and widely published in journals and magazines, including The Threepenny Review, Colorado Review, Third Coast, December, Cimarron Review, Natural Bridge, and Superstition Review. Winner of the Pushcart Prize, her work appears in Love Stories for Turbulent Times, a “best of Pushcart prose” anthology. She received the Three Sisters Award in Fiction from NELLE literary journal, as well as multiple individual artist grant awards from the Connecticut Office of the Arts.
Leslie holds an MFA from the University of Arizona and has been a longtime educator at the University of Hartford, where she won awards for outstanding teaching and creative scholarship. She’s a highly experienced Teaching Artist, leading workshops and residencies at schools, libraries and museums for students of all ages. She lives with her husband, the poet Bruce Cohen, in rural Connecticut; they have three wonderful sons.
Leslie Johnson
AUTHOR & TEACHING ARTIST
Click here to contact Leslie Johnson directly
for information about speaking engagements, writing workshops, residencies, and other programs.
SELECTED WRITINGS
Phoebe
Winter, 2020
AIR PEOPLE
Adelaide
Fall, 2018
Does It Have Pockets
Spring, 2025
MY POMPEII
Tonight I was visited by a sudden memory of the paper mâché Mount Vesuvius I built in the basement of my family home when I was boy. Whatever became of it? Did my mother or dad happen upon it in the basement and toss it out when they downsized to their retirement condo? I found myself wondering.
NELLE Literary
Journal
2023
LATE LUNCH, EARLY DINNER
Winner of the Three Sisters Award in Fiction
In the break room on Monday, Bethany told her office friend Marcia about the daytrip she was planning for Saturday to The Yoga Farm.
Bethany was eating a peanut butter sandwich, Marcia an assortment of cut vegetables. Marcia said, “So where’s it at?”
“New Hampshire. Which is kind of far for a day trip. But not that far.
The Spotlong Review
Summer, 2022
SAFE SHARE
During her Tuesday morning session with Mr. Ebberly, he inquires if she’s all right, and she knows as soon as he asks—what’s bugging you today, Sarge?—that she’s let her mind drift to them. Cody. Trent. Did something in her body language, her expression, give her away?
Fictive Dream
August, 2021
RAPID RIVER
Something good happened this morning: a Blue Heron. It was standing on a rock in the river, quite a ways down. I don’t know too many birds, but I know the Great Blue Heron. That long neck, curved like a question mark. Tall legs like thin, jointed stilts. Very still.
The Flexible Persona
Fall, 2018
RECLAIMED WOOD
december
Spring, 2017
I RUN INTO YOU
Armstrong Literary
Winter, 2020
WOODMONT WELCOMES YOU
Suddenly the teenage girls of Woodmont were pregnant.
Sandy Stickles counted off on her fingers six names – all Woodmont High girls – to Paula as they speed-walked around the Community Park track as they did every Sunday morning.
Terminus
Summer, 2016
NEXT HALF CENTURY
Nan reaches under the seat where she's stowed her purse, lifts it to the lap of her new micro-fiber pants, guaranteed by Travelsmith catalogue not to crease even worn for hours on a cramped plane.
Colorado Review
Spring, 2015
MIDTERM
Midmorning in mid-October, in the middle of the campus, Chandra stopped in the center of the crisscrossing sidewalks.
Natural Bridge
Spring, 2014
PIE
You can see the giant sign looming in the air from the interstate by the exit for Sturbridge, Massachusettes - a huge plastic pie the size of a satellite dish with one piece missing so its simulated apple filling shows.
Cimarron Review
Fall, 2014
GREEN GABLES
TEACHING ARTIST
Leslie Johnson is passionate about her work as a Teaching Artist, providing workshops and residencies for students of all ages, as well as professional development seminars for educators about arts-integration strategies.
For younger students (K-8), Leslie specializes in lively, arts-infused workshops and residencies that foster creativity while developing literacy skills. Poetry, fiction, and nature writing, along with a variety of themes and curriculum connections, are available. For teens, college students, and adults, Leslie leads writing workshops that inspire and challenge participants within a supportive atmosphere.
Leslie is highly experienced as a Teaching Artist for the Connecticut Office of the Arts and Arts for Learning CT; an Arts Provider and Arts Leader for the Hartford Performs organization; a Master Teaching Artist for Higher Order Thinking Schools (HOTS) of CT; a workshop leader for the Mark Twain House; and a professional development presenter trained by the Kennedy Center.
For more information about Leslie’s programs or to schedule a workshop or residency, please click here.
WHAT PEOPLE SAY
Melissa, Third Grade Teacher, Suffield CT
"Leslie has been coming into our classes for years now and our students have loved every minute! Our students are enthralled during each lesson and can't believe how fast time flies.”
Dana, Fifth Grade Teacher, Hartford CT
"The science and the nature writing went hand in hand, and all the students were engaged with the experience. With her creative writing background and enthusiasm for teaching, I could see why the students are drawn to her style. She was able to introduce the activities in a way that all the students understood. Her knowledge of poetry is amazing, and it was great to see it unfold in my classroom."
Carolyn, 4th Grade Teacher, South Windsor CT
"I now see a unique and beautiful poet in each of my students. Leslie brought brightness and warmth to our classroom and a feeling of inspiration to our time together."
NEWS & AWARDS
News
"Creative Spirit Workshops”
New! Leslie and musician Thomasina Levy now offer Creative Spirit workshops combining music and poetry in an uplifting, participation-based experience. “Over the years I have attended many writing workshops, and I have to tell you that yours was one of the most inspiring and transformative” – Alisa P., recent Creative Spirit workshop participant.
Contact Leslie for more information about how to schedule a Creative Spirit workshop for your school, company, or community group.
Awards (Selected)
-
Three Sisters Award in Fiction, NELLE Literary Journal, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 2023
-
Artist’s Respond Grant Award, Connecticut State Office of the Arts, 2020
-
Literary Arts Fellowship Award, Connecticut State Office of the Arts, 2018
-
Best of Prose Prize Anthology, Pushcart Press, Love Stories for Turbulent Times, Jan. 2018
-
Write Well Award Anthology Prize, 2018, Silver Pen Writers Association
-
Pushcart Prize for Fiction 2017
-
The Writing Disorder Anthology Selection, Best Fiction and Nonfiction, 2012
-
Gordon C. Ramsey Award for Creative Excellence, University of Hartford, 2013
-
Sustained Excellence in Teaching Award, University of Hartford, 2011
-
Finalist, Black Lawrence Book Award, 2024
-
Semifinalist, Permafrost Book Prize in Fiction, 2024
-
Longlist, C & R Fiction Award, 2021