Johanna Spiers
Author of dark, funny novels about extraordinary situations in everyday life
Photo by Rachel Joy Otterway
About Johanna
Dark, weird and funny, Johanna Spiers is a psychologist, a feminist, a recovering academic and a voracious reader who once gave a kidney to a friend. Her easy-to-read, darkly humorous novels take unusual hooks as the starting point for examining what makes people tick, how they think as well as how they form (and ruin) relationships.
Send Johanna a message
If you want to get in touch about Johanna’s writing, follow the contact link and she’ll get back to you as soon as she can.
Featured work
Social Death
Coming soon…
Snarky barmaid Morgan is used to people leaving. Her mum abandoned her. Her stepdad has dementia, and her beloved ex, David, dumped her two years ago. Can life get any worse?
OldFish
Johanna’s short story OldFish, about a pensioner who catfishes a teenager, won both third prize and the Samson Award for the highest placed entry from a Bristol writer at the 2022 Bristol Short Story Prize.
Johanna’s news and extras
- Johanna speaks at Clevedon Literary Festival
On June 10th 2023, Johanna gave a talk about How To Write Compelling Short Stories to a room full of engaged and lovely writers at… Read More »Johanna speaks at Clevedon Literary Festival - Johanna signs to LBA books
In December of 2022, Johanna signed up with Amanda Preston, a literary agent from LBA books. Together, Johanna and Amanda are working on Johanna’s debut… Read More »Johanna signs to LBA books - OldFish Wins
Johanna’s short story OldFish won the Samson Award for the highest-placed Bristol Writer and third prize overall in the 2022 Bristol Short Story Prize. The… Read More »OldFish Wins - OldFish Shortlisted
OldFish, Johanna’s short story about pensioners, teenagers and MDMA, has been shortlisted for the Bristol Short Story competition. The competition winners will be announced in… Read More »OldFish Shortlisted
Praise for Johanna’s writing
“Johanna’s writing – on a line by line level, sentence by sentence – is brilliant. It is very rare for me to read sentence after sentence and not want to tweak anything at all, but her prose flows beautifully, and the dialogue and characterisation are both working brilliantly”
Sophie Hannah (internationally best-selling crime author)
“Clean, readable prose which quickly establishes the protagonist’s character and the story itself”
Jericho Writers 2020 Friday Night Live judges
“[OldFish is] an arresting tale of grief and revenge, told in a language all too familiar to us today. This powerful story forces us to think about the lengths we will go to for justice.”
Jessica Taylor, Judge, Bristol Short Story Prize.
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Johanna loves hearing from her readers. If you want to ask a question, join her mailing list or hear her latest writing news, just get in touch via this form.
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