About Amela
Author of Maroon. Student of power. Believer in purpose.
Amela Johnson writes about power, and what it does to the people who hold it.
She was fourteen when she decided she would publish a novel. The Hunger Games had shown her what fiction could do, and Suzanne Collins became the kind of writer she wanted to be: one who hands readers a story and leaves them with a question about their own world. J.K. Rowling’s path, with its rejections, its persistence, and its refusal to quit, showed her what it would take to get there.
For years, though, she held her writing back, waiting for a major publisher to make it official. It was her father who finally nudged her to stop waiting for permission and take the leap on her own. Amela had come to believe that the talents God gives are meant to be used, not kept in a drawer. So she stepped out in faith and published her debut short story, Maroon, independently.
Writing is one of several callings she is following at once. Amela is a Division I track athlete, a political science major, and a pre-law student, and she sees no conflict between any of them. She believes God gifted her with each one on purpose, and she has chosen to let Him direct her path through all of them: on the track, in the classroom, and on the page.
Her fascinations show up in everything she writes. She loves history, royal houses and the monarchies that rose and fell with them, the balance of world powers, and the dystopian futures that feel a little too close. Maroon, set in a divided America in the year 3016, asks what happens when revenge becomes a nation’s foundation, and whether forgiveness can hold a country together instead. It’s a question she takes as seriously as a student of law, and as personally as a person of faith.
“Justice, forgiveness, power, and what happens when people become the very thing they once fought against.”
Amela, on the questions behind MaroonShe dedicated Maroon to her siblings. She is now at work on her first novel, Sui Generis, a story set in another world entirely.
At a glance
- Debut
- Maroon, a short story (Kindle, paperback, and a Fest-only comic edition)
- Writing now
- Sui Generis, her first novel
- Genres
- Dystopian fiction, political fiction, other worlds
- Studying
- Political science, pre-law
- Competing
- Division I track and field
- Favorite book
- The Hunger Games
- Drawn to
- History, royals and monarchies, world powers
For librarians, organizers, and press
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Amela Johnson is an author of dystopian fiction, a Division I track athlete, and a political science student on the pre-law track. Her debut short story, Maroon, set in a divided America in the year 3016, explores revenge, forgiveness, and faith. She is at work on her first novel, Sui Generis.
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