She decided to change her focus to children’s literature, however, while working as a nanny for children’s author Cynthia Rylant.
Johnson always thought of herself as a poet, writing what she describes as angry “punk poetry” in high school.Īfter studying for three years to be a special education teacher at Kent State University and spending a year as a child-development worker, in 1982 Johnson chose to give up aspirations for a teaching career and devote more time to her poetry. When she was eight, she began to keep a journal in which she could express herself secretly. Johnson’s love of language and literature began early in life, inspired by both her grandfather’s vibrant stories and her grade-school teachers’ readings of children’s books such as Harriet the Spy. Johnson’s parents still reside there, where Truzetta Johnson works for a social services agency and Arthur Johnson is a retired employee of General Motors. After the birth of Johnson’s two brothers, the family moved to Windham, Ohio, in 1966. When Johnson was 15 months old, her family moved to Diamond, Ohio.
Although she left her birthplace of Tuskegee, Macon County, at a very young age, Alabama serves as a setting in many of her works, which concern the everyday lives and struggles of young African Americans.Īngela Johnson was born in Macon County on June 18, 1961, the first child of Arthur and Truzetta Johnson. Angela Johnson (1961- ) is an acclaimed author of children’s picture books, young adult novels, poetry, and short stories.
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