Two-month residency for author A.J.B. Johnston
We are so pleased for author A.J.B. (John) Johnston who leaves today for a two-month (February-March, 2017) writer-in-residency at the Fairhope Center for the Writing Arts (Fairhope, Alabama). Johnston is the author of three novels and fourteen books of history; many of his books were published by CBU Press.
The program gives authors an opportunity to work on their writing while in residence at Wolff Cottage, which offers writers-in-residence the solitude and privacy to hone their craft, an escape-to-create or retreat-to-complete while living “in one of the prettiest places in the country.”
We recently learned that, while in Fairhope, John will be working on the fourth of his Thomas Pichon novels. Soon after he arrives, he will also be working with a French Canadian film company on a French-language film in development.
The focus of the film is on the “French in America.” John will speak about Louisbourg and Acadie in the film, of course, but it turns out they want that plus a lot more, including talking about the history of Mobile (AL) and Mardi Gras. They have also prepared him with quite a few questions about Thomas Pichon and the novels that bear his name. The crew want shoot footage of Johnston working on the novel in the WIR setting.
A career historian with Parks Canada, and the author of more than fourteen books, Johnston turned his hand to fiction in 2012, authoring three novels fictionalizing the life of Thomas Pichon, and 18th-century Frenchman, known to history as the spy of Beauséjour: Thomas, A Secret Life, The Maze and Crossings.
The Wolff Cottage Writer-in-Residence program is supported in part by the City Council of Fairhope, AL, donations from FCWA membership and the fundraising efforts of its members.
