Johnnie Bernhard

Johnnie Bernhard is an award-winning writer whose novels have appeared on notable book lists and awards with Publisher’s Weekly, Deep South Magazine, Kindle Book Awards, the Association of University Presses, Press Women of Texas, and the National Federation of Press Women.

Her novels focus on family, social issues, and the individual’s place in an ever-changing world.

A Good Girl was shortlisted in the 2015 William Faulkner-William Wisdom Writing Competition, the 2017 Kindle Book Award for Literary Fiction, and the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Fiction of the Year Award. It was a nominee for the 2018 PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize and placed in the permanent collection of the Texas State Library and Archive Commission, Texas Center for the Book.

Johnnie’s second novel, How We Came to Be was named a “Must Read” by Southern Writers Magazine and selected for the 2019 Deep South Magazine recommended reading list. It is the recipient of the Summerlee Book Prize, HM by the Center for History and Culture at Lamar University.

Her third novel, Sisters of the Undertow was chosen for discussion at the 2020 national AWP Conference, the Pat Conroy Literary Center of South Carolina, the Southern Book Festival/Humanities Tennessee, and Words and Music Literary Feast of New Orleans. Named “Best of the University Presses, 100 Books” by the Association of University Presses, Sisters of the Undertow was placed in the Texas Center for the Book, State Library Collection and received First Place in the Press Women of Texas Communications Contest. It was named a “Big Texas Read” by Gemini Ink of San Antonio and Writing Workshops of Dallas.

Her fourth novel, Hannah & Ariela was named by Publisher’s Weekly Magazine “Books to Read,” May 2022. TCU Press named the novel Best Fiction of 2022 in recognition of University Press Week, Association of University Presses. It was selected as novel of the year by the Press Women of Texas and received First Place, Fiction with the National Federation of Press Women.

Johnnie was chosen as a selected speaker in the 2020 TEDx Fearless Women Series based on her essay, “The Human Story: What Connects Us As Humans Regardless of Geography, Race, and Religion.”

She lives in South Texas with her husband.