Jennifer Johnston

• Birth Name — Jennifer Prudence Johnston • Born — 12 January 1930 • Birthplace — Dublin, Ireland • Died — 25 February 2025 • Place of death — Dún Laoghaire, Ireland • Relatives — * Shelah Richards (mother) • Denis Johnston (father) • Education — Trinity College Dublin • Occupation — Novelist • Spouse — Ian Smyth (m. 1951-?); 4 children David Gilliland (his death)

Johnston was born in Dublin on 12 January 1930, to Irish actress and director Shelah Richards and Irish playwright Denis Johnston. A cousin of actress and film star Geraldine Fitzgerald, via Fitzgerald's mother, Edith (née Richards), Jennifer was educated at Trinity College Dublin, graduating in 1965 with a degree in ancient and modern literature. She was born into the Church of Ireland and many of her novels deal with the fading of the Protestant Anglo-Irish ascendancy in the 20th century. She was a member of Aosdána.

Johnston was married twice. In 1951 she married a fellow student at Trinity College, Ian Smyth. Their four children are Patrick Smyth, Sarah, Lucy, and Malachy. After marrying her second husband, David Gilliland, she lived in Derry. After being widowed, she moved back to Dublin. Her cousins included the actresses Susan Fitzgerald and Tara Fitzgerald. Johnston suffered from dementia in later years. She died at a nursing home in Dún Laoghaire, on 25 February 2025, at the age of 95. Among the tributes paid to her was one by Irish President Michael D Higgins who recalled that "throughout her many novels and plays, provided a deep and meaningful examination of the nature and limitations of identity, family and personal connections throughout the tumultuous events of 20th century Irish life".

• Novels • The Captains and the Kings (1972), winner of the Author's Club First Novel Award • The Gates (1973) • How Many Miles to Babylon? (1974) • Shadows on Our Skin (1977), shortlisted for the Booker Prize • The Old Jest (1979), winner of a Whitbread Book Award for 1979 • The Christmas Tree (1981) • The Railway Station Man (1984) * • The Invisible Worm (1991) • The Illusionist (1995) • Three Monologues: "Twinkletoes", "Mustn't Forget High Noon", "Christine" (1995) • Finbar's Hotel, edited by Dermot Bolger (1997) (Contributor) * • The Essential Jennifer Johnston (1999) (contains The Captains and the Kings, The Railway Station Man, and Fool's Sanctuary) • Great Irish Stories of Murder and Mystery (2000) (Contributor) * • This is not a Novel (2002) • Grace and Truth (2005) * * • Shadow Story (2012) * • A Sixpenny Song (2013) • Naming the Stars (2015) • Plays • The Nightingale and Not the Lark (1981) • Andante un Poco Mosso, first performed 1981, published in The Best Short Plays 1983 (1983) • Indian Summer (1984) • The Porch (1986) • The Invisible Man (1987) • O Ananias, Azarias and Misael (1989) • Triptych (1989) • Twinkletoes (1993) * • Moonlight and Music (2000) • Waiting (2006) • The Christmas Tree: A Play in Two Acts (2015)