UW English professor emeritus is one of five people whose likeness is featured on posters promoting diversity and inclusion sent by the to every college undergraduate philosophy program in the United States and Canada.
And he is in excellent company: The other four people featured, each in a separate poster, are American writers and ; British novelist , winner of the 2017 Nobel Prize for literature; and English actor . The posters are part of a of information designed to help departments support philosophy students from underrepresented groups.
Johnson earned his doctorate in philosophy from the State University of New York and is the co-author, with Michael Boylan, of a on philosophy. In that book Johnson quotes French philosopher Albert Camus: 鈥淚f you want to be a philosopher, write novels.鈥�
He is the UW Pollock Endowed Professor of Writing, the author of two dozen books and recipient of numerous honors, including the 1990 National Book Award for his novel 鈥�.鈥� A stage production of the novel will premiere at Chicago’s in February 2020. Other recent awards and activities include:
- Johnson鈥檚 2018 short story collection 鈥溾�� was a finalist for the 2019 in fiction.
- Actor Levar Burton (鈥淩eading Rainbow,鈥� 鈥淪tar Trek: The Next Generation鈥�) has recorded a performance of Johnson鈥檚 story 鈥淜woon鈥� for the .
- Johnson published a tribute to novelist , who died in August. She was best known for her 1959 debut novel 鈥�.” He suggests that Marshall鈥檚 works should be taught widely in schools 鈥渇or the literary standard she set for 65 years. We owe that to ourselves for generations to come.鈥�
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