Jessica Johns

Jessica Johns is a Cree writer from Canada, whose debut novel Bad Cree was published in 2023.

Johns is a member of the Sucker Creek First Nation in northern Alberta. She grew up on her traditional territory in Treaty 8. She lived in Adelaide, Australia from ages 14-16. Johns majored in English at Grant MacEwan University and has an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia.

While she was an MFA student, a creative writing teacher told John's class to never write about dreams. Johns wrote Bad Cree in part as a response to this, advice which Johns disagreed with due to the importance of dreams in Cree culture. It was expanded from her earlier short story of the same name, which won the Journey Prize in 2020.

Bad Cree was published in 2023 by HarperCollins Canada. The novel was a shortlisted finalist for the 2023 Amazon.ca First Novel Award.Bad Cree was selected for the 2024 edition of Canada Reads, where it was defended by Dallas Soonias.

Johns divides her time between Edmonton and Vancouver and has a cat named Alfredo.