Literary Birthday – 12 January – Jennifer Johnston

Jennifer Johnston was born 12 January 1930 and died 25 February 2025.

Jennifer Johnston Quotes

1. This is not a novel. I want to make that perfectly clear. Normally when I set out to write a piece of fiction, I invent a setting, a landscape, a climate, a world, in fact, that has no reality outside the pages of the book, and into the world I insert my characters. (This Is Not a Novel)
2. I did want this to be somewhat different to my previous novels. It is, in some ways, a sideways look at my family history, which is not to say that it’s autobiographical, but there are some strong references to my family. (This Is Not a Novel)
3. Why do some people seem to know how to write and other people do not? And the people who do not are a hell of a lot more successful than I am. They make an awful lot of money, which is what being successful is! (Open Editions Journal)
4. And when it comes to that moment when I finish, when I put the last full stop and then I go back and read the book, I think: ‘Well, now, what should I do?’ I usually cut. I very seldom rewrite bits at all. This is the fear of being sentimental. You just have to pare it down and pare it down all the time, so there is no room for the sentimental to creep in. (Open Editions Journal)
5. It is a strange thing that when you start to write a book, you do not have these ideas in your head and it is like planting a flower or a little bush. You water it and you write. (Open Editions Journal)
6. I have had a lot of voices in my head for quite a number of my novels. Before I start writing and also when I am probably writing the last line, I have voices in my head. (Open Editions Journal)
7. I am constantly astonished by the fact that once you start to trawl through the waters of memory the strangest things get caught in the net. Are they true or false these recollections that suddenly seem so clear in your mind? (This Is Not a Novel)

Jennifer Johnston was an Irish novelist whose works dealt with political and cultural tensions in Ireland. Her books were full of dialogue, centring on the Irish family, the relationship between parents and children, and the transition from childhood to adulthood. This was all set against the backdrop of Irish history. Johnston’s other novels include The Invisible Worm, Two Moons, This Is Not a Novel, and A Sixpenny Song. She won a number of awards, including the Whitbread Book Award for The Old Jest in 1979 and a Lifetime Achievement from the Irish Book Awards in 2012.

Source for image: Cabro-foto, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jennifer_Johnston_(novelist).png

by Amanda Patterson

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