About Johnnie Bernhard
A former English teacher and journalist, Johnnie Bernhard is passionate about reading and writing. Her nonfiction work has appeared in Suburban Reporter of Houston, World Oil Magazine, The Mississippi Press, the international Word Among Us, Heart of Ann Arbor Magazine, Houston Style Magazine, and the Cowbird-NPR production on small town America. As a traditionally published author, she has written four award-winning novels and contributed to seven anthologies.
Her debut novel, A Good Girl was published by Texas Review Press, the university press of Sam Houston State University. It was shortlisted in the 2015 Faulkner-Wisdom Writing Competition, one of America's most prestigious literary prizes. The novel was selected for panel discussion at the 2017 Mississippi and Louisiana Book Festivals, as well as represented at the Texas Book Festival. It was a finalist in the 2017 National Kindle Book Awards, a nominee for the Bingham Prize, a 2018 nominee for the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Award in Fiction, and shortlisted for the 2017 Texas Literary Review, Bloggers' Choice Award for Literary Fiction. The Texas Library Archives, Texas Center for the Book, made the novel part of its permanent collection.
Johnnie's second novel, How We Came to Be was chosen for panel discussion at the 2018 Louisiana and Mississippi Book Festivals. It was represented at the 2018 Texas Book Festival. Named a "Must Read" by Southern Writers Magazine in its March 2018 issue, it was also recognized by Deep South Magazine in its Summer Reading List. It was shortlisted by the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters for 2019 Fiction of the Year, as well as the recipient of the Summerlee Book Prize, HM by the Center for History and Culture at Lamar University. The Texas Library Archives, Texas Center for the Book, made the novel part of its permanent collection.
Sisters of the Undertow, Johnnie's third novel, was selected for the panel discussion for the 2020 AWP National Conference and the Southern Book Festival, Humanities Tennessee. It was chosen by the Association of University Presses as one of the hundred best books published by university presses. It was selected as the Big Texas Read from Gemini Ink San Antonio, a national writing center. The Press Women of Texas awarded the novel first place in its communication contest.
Hannah and Ariela was published by TCU Press in 2022. It was recommended by Publisher’s Weekly as “Books to Read” in 2022. It received first place in Fiction by the National Federation of Press Women and was nominated for Book of the Year by the MS Library Association. In honor of university press week, TCU named the novel Book of the Year. The novel was represented at the Louisiana Book Festival and the Texas Book Festival.
Johnnie's work can also be found in the following anthologies: Louisiana Literature, Writers on Writing, The Pulpwood Queens Celebrate Twenty Years, Katrina Memories, What Times are These, All Night, All Day, and Being Home.