Introduction
Michael Darren David Johnston, known as D.D. Johnston, (born in 1979 in Edinburgh, Scotland) is a Scottish political novelist. He attended university in Edinburgh and currently lives in Cheltenham, England. The left-wing British newspaper the Morning Star called him "one of this country’s most principled socialist novelists" and "also one of the most versatile and talented around."
Novels
Johnston's first novel, Peace, Love & Petrol Bombs, from the anarchist publisher AK Press in Oakland, California, was selected as a Herald Book of the Year by Helen Fitzgerald. It has been translated into Spanish as Paz, amor y cócteles molotov (Hoja de Lata, 2013). Johnston's second, The Deconstruction of Professor Thrub, from Barbican Press, was written for a PhD in Creative Writing at the University of Gloucestershire.
A third novel, The Secret Baby Room, was published in July 2015. It is a psychological thriller set in Manchester and drawing on periods in the author's life when he was homeless and then working at Manchester coach station. The author commented: "It’s taken me slightly longer to finish it than it took the Achaeans to fight the Trojan War. I hope it’s worth the wait."
Lecturing
Johnston runs an online writing website. He is a senior lecturer in creative writing at the University of Gloucestershire.