K.V. Johansen Author of Fantasy and Children's Literature
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September 2016
Gods of Nabban was published by Pyr.

December 2014
The Lady was reviewed on SFSignal, and an interview, review, and guest blog post appeared on Book Plank.

November 2014
An interview and review of Blackdog appeared on MyShelf.

September 2014
The Lady was reviewed in Publisher's Weekly: "The action continues unabated in this dashing, magic-filled sequel to The Leopard... Deities, demons, devils, and wizards stalk the pages alongside human heroes and others not so easily defined. Some of the magic is as quick as thought, while other magic requires lengthy rituals that border on poetry. Johansen has found a winning combination: the modern epic fantasy penchant for a cast of thousands and the golden age feeling of a tale of Conan or Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser dueling with gods gone mad."

June 2014
The Leopard was included on io9's Most Astounding Must-Read Science Fiction And Fantasy Books In June list and Kirkus Review's Best Speculative Fiction Reads for June.

May 2014
The Leopard was reviewed in Foreword Reviews: “An involving and deftly written novel of escape and capture, love and loss, and battles both mental and physical…. Johansen's writing style is assured and elegant, subtle and powerful…"

April 2014
The Leopard (published June 2014) has been reviewed in Publishers Weekly: “…the work highlights Johansen’s strengths. A surprising number of characters and plot threads are deftly interwoven…”

April 2014
Johansen attended Ad Astra, April 4-6, in Toronto, as a panelist in discussions on social media for writers, book covers, non-European fantasy worlds, and the role of research in world building. Blog posts: | part one | part two | part three |

March 2014
Pyr, an imprint of Prometheus Books, will be publishing Johansen's 2-volume Marakand fantasy series, starting with The Leopard in June 2014, followed by The Lady in December 2014. There's more about the Marakand series at www.kvj.ca

July 2013
Johansen was interviewed for the Canadian writers abroad blog.

May 2013
Blog posts on the Macedonian
trip & book launch:
1. Going nowhere, slowly
2. Macedonia at last
3. Skopje: The Old City, Сули ан and Чифте-амам

April 2013
Johansen will be a guest of honour at the Days of Canadian Literature event April 26-28 in Skopje, the capital of Macedonia, a country that gained independence from Yugoslavia in the 1990s.

Half the size of Nova Scotia, Macedonia avoided the worst of the violence and ethnic cleansing in the civil wars of the former Yugoslavia. Macedonian writers and publishers are now hoping to create not only a new nation, but a new children’s literature that will contribute to a peaceful and tolerant future in which both of the country’s dominant languages – Macedonian and Albanian – will be cherished and supported.

Johansen will be speaking in Skopje about the Canadian experience of multiculturalism in literature, and will also be launching the Macedonian-language edition of her children’s novel Torrie and the Pirate-Queen (Тори и пиратската кралица - translated by Marija Todorova). Another book in the series, Torrie and the Snake Prince, was picked by IBBY (the International Board on Books for Young People) for their 2011 list of Outstanding Books for Young People with Disabilities, and was translated into Macedonian and published in 2010 as Тори и принцот-змија.


Johansen’s travel is supported by the Canada Council for the Arts. Cette tournée est soutenue par le Conseil des Arts du Canada.

February 2013
Johansen discussed wonder & magic on the Fantasist Enterprises blog.

October 2012
Blackdog was reviewed at io9:
"
Blackdog is an absorbing story of a man and a goddess on the run, struggling to survive against impossible odds — all in one can't-put-it-down volume."


The e-book edition of Blackdog
is now available in e-pub format from Kobo. Amazon Canada, USA, and UK, and Diesel e-books also carry the e-book, as does Barnes & Noble. Available from Sony here.

August 2012
Blackdog was reviewed at Eclectic Ruckus: "There’s a good reason the jury put Blackdog on the Sunburst shortlist: it’s a fine, complex high fantasy set in a fully realized secondary world.... Blackdog is a terrific entertainment, but it’s also a thoughtful exploration of various kinds of power & the responsibilities that accrue to it. Johansen has created a world large in both space & time, &, indeed, because its geography is so thick with history (of both gods & their peoples), the singular tales Blackdog tells have a richness & depth lacking in so many more conventional fantasies."

June 2012
Blackdog is short-listed for the 2012 Sunburst Award.

Johansen was interviewed by Arts East.

The Drone War and The Black Box have been approved by the Nova Scotia Book Bureau for their catalogue of learning resources for Nova Scotia schools.

May 2012

Blackdog was reviewed in Portland Book Review: "Populated by a huge number of dynamic characters, Blackdog slowly weaves a number of individual stories into a single epic fantasy. A complex tale of loyalty and honor, warriors and wizards, gods and demons and devils, the story demands the reader’s complete attention. Subtle details and seemingly insignificant events often transform into major plot points as the story progresses. The book is so thoroughly developed, its mythology so complete, that it often gives the impression of being a single chapter of a much larger story, a window into an actual living breathing world. A must read book for those who love high fantasy." .

April 2012
Johansen participated in "Suitably Strange: A Round-Table Discussion of World-Building" in the April 2012 Clarkesworld Magazine.

March 2012
Johansen was the guest-poster on Madison Woods' blog Tuesday March 13.

February 2012
The Black Box received an Honourable Mention on the Ontario Library Association's Best Bets for Children 2011 list. The Black Box is also on Resource Links magazine's 2011 Years Best list.

January 2012
Blackdog was reviewed at NJ.COM: "...a mix of various Asian influences and K.V. Johansen’s own invention, populated by well-drawn characters, with interesting, competent women making a good showing. “Blackdog” takes two thick handfuls of age-old ideas and tropes — and molds them into a fresh-feeling adventure, an impressive feat."

December 2011
Blackdog was reviewed at sffworld .com: "Johansen's first novel for the adult market is a powerhouse of mythic proportions."

November 2011
Johansen was interviewed for the Functional Nerds podcast.

October 2011
Johansen was interviewed at Adventures in Sci Fi Publishing. Click here for the podcast.

An e-book edition of Blackdog is now available for Kindle at Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk as well as Amazon Canada.

August 2011
Torrie and the Snake-Prince was chosen by IBBY (the International Board on Books for Young People) for their 2011 selection of Outstanding Books for Young People with Disabilities.

Johansen guest-posted on SF Signal on the subject of her interest in shapeshifters in fiction.

Blackdog
has been reviewed in Library Journal: "Johansen’s characters project believability, and her world is full of rich and vivid detail."

The Star Wars Sundays blog is having a double feature this week: Terry Brooks and K.V. Johansen.


Part two of the discussion of epic fantasy at Clarkesworld magazine is now online.

July 2011
Johansen took part in a discussion of epic fantasy at Clarkesworld magazine.

June 2011
Johansen will be inducted into Sackville's Arts Wall on Saturday June 18th at 11 am, joining previously-honoured Sackville writers Douglas Lochhead and Sir Charles G.D. Roberts.

May 2011
Blackdog, a new novel to be published by Pyr in September 2011, is available for pre-order from Amazon Canada, Amazon USA, Amazon UK, and other retailers.

March 2011
Johansen has been invited to participate in the Spring Term of Writers In Electronic Residence (WIER).

February 2011
The Black Box, the third book in the Cassandra Virus series, is now available. It was reviewed this month in CM Magazine and Resource Links.

Vermilion Books (Вермилион) has acquired the Macedonian language rights for Torrie and the Pirate-Queen, which is to appear in Macedonian as Тори и пиратската кралица.

November 2010
Pyr has acquired Johansen's adult fantasy novel Blackdog, which should be coming out in about a year.

The Black Box, book three of the Cassandra Virus series, will be available soon, with cover art by Connie Choi
.

October 2010
Johansen will be attending HAL-CON in Halifax, October 29-31.

September 2010
Cover art for The Black Box, the final book of the Cassandra Virus series, is ready. Also, Johansen now has a blog for the upcoming manga project she's working on with Connie Choi.

April 2010
After her book tour in Austria and Macedonia, Johansen will be in Ottawa giving writing workshops, and will also be reading at the Rideau branch of the Ottawa Public Library, located at 377 Rideau St., at 7pm on Tuesday, April 20th.

Johansen was interviewed for the Macedonian A1 Television network April 13th, and will be participating in a Day of Canadian Culture on the 14th.

2010 Skopje International Book Fair
March 2010
Johansen has been invited to be a guest at the 2010 Skopje International Book Fair in April 2010, where she will be launching the Macedonian-language translation of her book Torrie and the Snake-Prince (Тори и принцот-змија) April 12-14. Also at the book fair, she will be receiving the Anna Frank Award.

She will also, on April 9, be launching the latest volume of her Warlocks of Talverdin series, The Shadow Road, in Vienna Austria.


Click here for more about her book tour.

We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts which last year invested $20.1 million in writing and publishing throughout Canada. Nous remercions de son soutien le Conseil des Arts du Canada, qui a investi 20,1 millions de dollars l'an dernier dans les lettres et l'édition à travers le Canada.


The Shadow Road has been reviewed in CM Magazine.


Warden of Greyrock has been selected for the Ontario Library Association's 2009 Best Bets list of young adult books.

November 2009
The cover art for
The Shadow Road,
Book IV of The Warlocks of Talverdin, has been finalised. The Shadow Road will be released in the spring of 2010.


October 2009
Torrie and the Dragonslayers has been reviewed in Resource Links.

The Macedonian-language translation of Torrie and the Snake-Prince (Тори и принцот-змија) has been published by Vermilion Books, translation by Marija Todorova.


August 2009
Warden of Greyrock has had a number of recent reviews, and now has a video clip on Youtube of a sample read by the author.


June 2009
Torrie and the Dragonslayers, the next volume in the Torrie fantasy series, is available for pre-order.

Johansen has a podcast at WIER (Writers In Electronic Residence), featuring a reading from The Drone War, a discussion of mentoring, and a sample of the writing submitted by students during Johansen's most recent participation in WIER.


April 2009
Warden of Greyrock was reviewed at McNally Robinson.

"The Storyteller", title story of the collection The Storyteller and Other Tales, is in issue
38 of the Australian magazine Andromeda Spaceways.

March 2009
has been reviewed in Canadian Literature.

Johansen was a guest at The Reading Series at St. Jerome's University in Waterloo Ontario, Monday, March 16, 4pm, STJ 3027, where she read from The Storyteller and Other Tales. She also spoke to Dr. Deman's science fiction class about Steampunk Tues. the 17th. For a booklist to accompany the talk, click here
.

January 2009
Warden of Greyrock, the third book in the Warlocks of Talverdin Series, is scheduled for release in April.

December 2008
The Canadian Library Association's journal Feliciter reviewed Beyond Window Dressing: Canadian Children's Fantasy at the Millennium.

November 2008
On November 5th, Johansen reads at the Oshawa Public Library's A is for Author reading festival.

Johansen tours Quebec for TD Canadian Children's Book Week 2008, touring November 15 - 22.

October 2008
The Storyteller and other Tales has been reviewed at Teens Read Too.

Treason in Eswy has been reviewed at Teens Read Too.

August 2008

Johansen reads at Word on the Street (Halifax) on the 28th of September.

The Storyteller and other Tales has been reviewed at FantasyLiterature.net

A video clip of a reading from The Storyteller and other Tales that includes... a fox!

July 2008

Johansen will be part of TD Canadian Children's Book Week 2008, touring Quebec November 15 - 22.

May 2008

The fantasy short-story collection is scheduled for publication in September 2008.

May 2008
Nightwalker won the 2008 Ann Connor Brimer Award.

March 2008

Treason in Eswy, book two of the Warlocks of Talverdin series, has been released.

Torrie and the Snake-Prince was selected for the 2008/2009 Hackmatack Children’s Choice Book Award shortlist.

Johansen was a guest at Animaritime 2008

February 2008
Nightwalker has been selected for the Saskatchewan 2008 Snow Willow Awards shortlist.

<Nightwalker has been selected for the Ontario Library Association's Best Bets list. Books are selected on the basis of their literary/artistic merit as well as their appeal for children. Torrie and the Snake-Prince was selected as an honourable mention for the OLA Best Bets list.


January 2008
The cover art for Treason in Eswy, book two of the Warlocks of Talverdin series, is now available. And Johansen is Orca's featured author of the month.

November 2007
is scheduled for publication in December 2007.

October 2007
Torrie and the Snake-Prince is on the short list for the 2008 Silver Birch Award.

Torrie and the Snake-Prince was reviewed in the latest Resource Links, as was The Drone War.

September 2007
<The Drone War, sequel to The Cassandra Virus, was published on September 4.

Torrie and the Snake-Prince was reviewed in Atlantic Books Today.

The Drone War was reviewed in CM Magazine.

Orca has released eBook editions of >The Cassandra Virus and Nightwalker.

August 2007

Torrie and the Snake-Prince will be translated into Macedonian and published by Vermilion Books (Вермилион) of the Republic of Macedonia, as Тори и принцот-змија.

July 2007
The Cassandra Virus was chosen as a Canadian Children’s Book Centre Our Choice selection.

May 2007
Nightwalker, has been reviewed in Resource Links, CM Magazine, and the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books.

April 2007
Nightwalker, has been selected by Voya for their annual list of the Year's Best Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror.

March 2007
The Cassandra Virus has been shortlisted for the Canadian Association of Children’s Librarians Book of the Year for Children Award.

Nightwalke, book one in the Warlocks of Talverdin series, has been released, and was reviewed by Teens Read Too.

February 2007
Torrie and the Snake-Prince has been released.

Torrie and the Firebird< has been selected by the Ontario Library Association as one of the top ten children's books of 2006

Johansen was a guest at Animaritime 2007 in Moncton, NB, February 23-25.

December 2006
The Cassandra Virus was recommended in a review in Georgia Straight.

The cover art for Nightwalker is now available!

November 2006
The release date for the YA fantasy novel Nightwalker, first book in the Warlocks of Talverdin series, has been set for March 2007.

K.V. Johansen read from Quests and Kingdoms: A Grown-Up's Guide to Children's Fantasy, at the Moncton Public Library on Thursday, November 23rd at 6:30 pm. Click here for a list of recent fantasy books mentioned in the lecture.

Torrie and the Pirate-Queen was a starred choice in this year's Our Choice Guide to Canada's best children's books by the Canadian Children's Book Centre.

The Cassandra Virus was reviewed in School Library Journal.

October 2006

The Cassandra Virus was chosen by Today's Parent magazine as one of their Great Canadian Fiction selections.

The release of the next book in the Torrie series: Torrie and the Snake-Prince, has been scheduled for February 2007.


August 2006

was reviewed in Kliatt Magazine, and in Voya.

May 2006

Torrie and the Pirate-Queen has received the Canadian Authors' Association 2006 Lilla Stirling Award.

The Cassandra Virus
was selected by Canadian Family magazine as one of their 40 Great Summer Reads.

April 2006

Torrie and the Firebird
has been reviewed in CM Magazine. Torrie and the Pirate-Queen has been nominated for the Diamond Willow Award.

Orca has published The Cassandra Virus, a science fiction novel for ages 9-14.

February 2006
Quests and Kingdoms
was reviewed in Books in Canada, and in Midwest Book Review.

Annick has released Torrie and the Firebird.

2005
Quests and Kingdoms was recently reviewed in Amon Hen, the bulletin of the Tolkien Society. {excerpt}. Quests was also reviewed in the November issue of Mythprint, the bulletin of the Mythopoeic Society. {excerpt} Quests and Kingdoms was nominated for the 2006 Harvey Darton Award.

Torrie and the Pirate-Queen
is a nominated title for the 2006 Silver Birch Award.A Danish edition of Torrie and the Pirate-Queen has been published by Forlaget Thorup, entitled Sørøverdronningen.Johansen recently finished editing the ninth volume of Donald Jack's classic Bandy Papers series. Stalin Versus Me, the final book in the series, is now in print.

Quests and Kingdoms: A Grown-Up's Guide to Children's Fantasy Literature was released July 2005. See here for a review in CM Magazine.

>Torrie and the Pirate-Queen was recently reviewed in: Canadian Review of Materials, Georgia Strait, and Quill & Quire.

Johansen received the Frances E. Russell Award from the Canadian National Section of the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY Canada).

Johansen participated in the Spring 2005 session of Writers in Electronic Residence (WIER).
Click here for an anthology of selected work from the WIER Elementary Conference (Adobe Acrobat format).

For the latest books and recent news, please visit the updated website, "Home", above!

Marakand: The Lady
The Lady: Published December 2014

Marakand: The Leopard
The Leopard: June 2014


Тори и пиратската кралица - Macedonian translation of Torrie and the Pirate-Queen
Torrie and the Dragonslayers children's e-book
Macedonian language edition of Torrie and the Pirate-Queen (Тори и пиратската кралица)

September 2011
Blackdog by K.V. Johansen

The Black Box : a Cassandra Virus Novel
The Black Box

The Shadow Road
he Shadow Road

Torrie and the Dragonslayers
Torrie and the Dragonslayers

<Тори и принцот-змија
Тори и принцот-змија

Warden of Greyrock
Warden of Greyrock

Canadian Children's Author K.V. Johansen
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