Denis Johnson

Denis Hale Johnson (July 1, 1949 – May 24, 2017) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and poet. He is perhaps best known for his debut short story collection, Jesus' Son (1992). His most successful novel, Tree of Smoke (2007), won the National Book Award for Fiction. His Train Dreams was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Johnson was the author of nine novels, one novella, two books of short stories, three collections of poetry, two collections of plays, and one book of reportage. His final work, the short story collection The Largesse of the Sea Maiden, was published posthumously in 2018. Ted Geltner's biography of Johnson, Flagrant, Self-Destructive Gestures, appeared in late 2025. '