Welcome.
I write books for young people and essays for adults.
I write about justice, equality, and mental health because I dream of a world where everyone belongs.
J. J. Johnson (she/her) is a writer, editor, artist, youth mentor, and social justice worker.
She grew up in a small town in central New York in the 1980s, before people knew that well-behaved white girls could have ADHD, anxiety, and OCD underneath an eating disorder. At fifteen, J. J. was hospitalized for bulimarexia (a diagnosis no longer in use), where she was able to find support, stabilize her health, and commit to e.d. recovery.
J. J. went on to study history at Binghamton University and later earned a Master of Education from Harvard, where she studied Adolescent Risk and Prevention and learned a ton from her brilliant, and brilliantly diverse, cohort.
J. J. loved grad school but did not love living in Boston. The week after graduation, she moved with her partner to Durham, North Carolina. In Durham she resumed her career in youth mentorship and advocacy - and kept on writing.
Her young-adult novels are Believarexic, The Theory of Everything, and This Girl is Different. They have received numerous awards and have been translated into six languages. J. J. also writes weekly-ish essays about social justice, liberation, and spirituality at Notes from an Unruly Quaker.
J. J. is a non-dogmatic Quaker whose core values include justice, equality, community, anti-racism, and integrity. This means she's a harsh critic of systems but a big softie toward people and other living beings. She is a Gen Xer and identifies as a queer, neurodivergent, cis-gender white woman.
Insatiably curious, J. J. loves to read and learn. On any given day, you are likely to find her co-facilitating a Restorative Justice circle, mentoring teens, having coffee with friends, throwing dance parties, conspiring and collaborating, building furniture, tending her Little Free Library, hiking, biking, or roller-skating, or just staring at the clouds daydreaming.
She lives with her partner and their young-adult child in a small brick house with their rescued dog Taco. J. J.'s mom lives next door. Her three chickens live in a hand-made coop in the backyard.
She's grateful you're here.
She grew up in a small town in central New York in the 1980s, before people knew that well-behaved white girls could have ADHD, anxiety, and OCD underneath an eating disorder. At fifteen, J. J. was hospitalized for bulimarexia (a diagnosis no longer in use), where she was able to find support, stabilize her health, and commit to e.d. recovery.
J. J. went on to study history at Binghamton University and later earned a Master of Education from Harvard, where she studied Adolescent Risk and Prevention and learned a ton from her brilliant, and brilliantly diverse, cohort.
J. J. loved grad school but did not love living in Boston. The week after graduation, she moved with her partner to Durham, North Carolina. In Durham she resumed her career in youth mentorship and advocacy - and kept on writing.
Her young-adult novels are Believarexic, The Theory of Everything, and This Girl is Different. They have received numerous awards and have been translated into six languages. J. J. also writes weekly-ish essays about social justice, liberation, and spirituality at Notes from an Unruly Quaker.
J. J. is a non-dogmatic Quaker whose core values include justice, equality, community, anti-racism, and integrity. This means she's a harsh critic of systems but a big softie toward people and other living beings. She is a Gen Xer and identifies as a queer, neurodivergent, cis-gender white woman.
Insatiably curious, J. J. loves to read and learn. On any given day, you are likely to find her co-facilitating a Restorative Justice circle, mentoring teens, having coffee with friends, throwing dance parties, conspiring and collaborating, building furniture, tending her Little Free Library, hiking, biking, or roller-skating, or just staring at the clouds daydreaming.
She lives with her partner and their young-adult child in a small brick house with their rescued dog Taco. J. J.'s mom lives next door. Her three chickens live in a hand-made coop in the backyard.
She's grateful you're here.