John Mitchell Johnson’s characters are as complex and colorful as the eastern Kentucky Appalachian Mountains where he was raised. His debut novel, Kudzu, was published in 2018 and selected for inclusion in the 2018 Kentucky Book Festival. Johnson also published a collection of short stories, Where I’m From, in 2021. His stories have twice won awards at Lexington's Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning, and in 2017 Johnson was selected as a winner of the center’s Next Great Writers Competition. His short stories have appeared nine times in Silver Threads, a literary collaborative of the Carnegie Center and the Lexington Senior Center. Johnson’s short story “84 × 28 × 20,” a foray into the macabre, was published by Dark Harbor Magazine; and “All In,” an Appalachian tale told through the eyes of a thirteen-year-old who has a unique perspective of his dysfunctional, yet endearing, family, appeared in Story Sanctum. Johnson is currently working on a play adaptation of “All In.” His memoir piece, “Sweet Sorghum,” appeared in the October 2025 issue of Kentucky Monthly, and Johnson’s emotionally resonant “A Perfectly Clear Day” was published by Gotham Literature in December 2025.

Johnson is retired and lives in Lexington, Kentucky, with his wife, Lisa, and shelter cat, Romeo. When not writing he enjoys spending time with his family, especially his granddaughter, Ruby Jane.