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American author From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Michael Craft Johnson (born 1950),[1] who goes by the pen name Michael Craft, is an American author of gay and lesbian mystery novels. His 2019 novel ChoirMaster won the IBPA Benjamin Franklin Award for LGBTQ,[2] and four of his novels have been finalists for the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Mystery.[3][4][5][6]
In 1950, Craft was born in Elgin, Illinois, where he remained until he ventured to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.[1] In the 1980s, he moved to Kenosha, Wisconsin.[1]
Craft met his now husband, Leon, in 1982.[1]
In 2005, Craft and Leon moved near Palm Springs, California.[1]
When California legalized same-sex marriage in 2013, Craft and Leon were wed.[1] The couple now lives in Rancho Mirage, California.[7]
As a child, Craft attended Catholic grade school for eight years, then became a student at Elgin Academy, then a private boarding school, where he graduated as class valedictorian.[1]
Craft studied graphic design at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.[1] He pursued a graduate degree at the Institute for Communications Research but dropped out in 1976.[1]
Craft later received a Master of Fine Arts in Creative writing from Antioch University, Los Angeles.[7]
Craft began his career at the Chicago Tribune as an art director, a position he held for 10 years.[1] While at the Tribune, he moved to Kenosha, Wisconsin and traveled to Chicago by train, during which he wrote the first draft of his debut novel.[1]
Craft left the Tribune in 1987 to work for his partner's family-owned business, which manufactured musical wind instruments. During his time, he was able to focus on his writing.
In 1991, Craft's debut novel, Rehearsing, was accepted by Los Hombres Press, a small publisher of gay writing in San Diego.[1] The book was released in February 1993.
In the early 2000s, Craft began playwriting and screenwriting.[1] His stage play Photo Flash was performed in 2003 in Wisconsin, then in 2008 in California.[1] In 2011, he was involved in the production of Pink Squirrels, a short, independent film.[1]
Year | Title | Award | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
1994 | Rehearsing | Society of Midland Authors' Adult Fiction Award | Finalist | [7] |
2001 | Name Games | Lambda Literary Award for Gay Mystery | Finalist | [3] |
2002 | Boy Toy | Lambda Literary Award for Gay Mystery | Finalist | [4] |
2003 | Hot Spot | Lambda Literary Award for Gay Mystery | Finalist | [5] |
2018 | FlabberGassed | Muse Medallion for Cat Mystery | Finalist | [8] |
2019 | ChoirMaster | Muse Medallion for Mystery Novel | Finalist | [9] |
2020 | Lambda Literary Award for Gay Mystery | Finalist | [10][6] | |
IBPA Benjamin Franklin Award for LGBTQ | Gold | [2] |
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