About ME

My first memories are of my brother’s death. Maybe that’s why I’ve always wanted to understand the connection between memory and identity. At 17, when I was writing the very first draft of Traces, I was also bandaging my friends’ suicide attempts. I’ve volunteered as a writing tutor for refugees and autistic students, visitor on the closed ward of a psychiatric hospital, advocate for the LGBTQIA+ community (of which I am a member), and celebrant for bereavement ceremonies. As an educator, YA/NA novelist, and poet, I know that nobody can heal unless they feel safe and seen, which is why I believe so strongly in trauma-informed communication and radical acceptance.

What my (old) author bio said:

SOPHIE JOHANNIS wrote her first book at the age of four (but the squiggles refuse to be deciphered). An English nerd holding advanced degrees in literature and linguistics, she frequently annoys her students with objectively terrible puns. She spends her free time trying (with limited success) to keep her cats off her laptop or looking for shiny rocks and baby reptiles outside.

What my (old) author bio didn't say:

• Referring to myself in the third person is really awkward. We’re not doing that here.
• My favorite place in the world is the wild Olympic coast.
• I live and teach in Germany.
• I’m physically incapable of talking about cats in a normal voice.
• In college, I worked as a babysitter, librarian’s assistant, TA, and (very briefly) as a mascot. But my craziest job was face painting at an amusement park. So much pink. And glitter. I couldn’t get it off for weeks.
• My idea of a perfect date is reading a good book side by side with my loved one. Thankfully, my husband agrees.
• I started working on the earliest version of Traces when I was 17 but rewrote it entirely. Twice.
• Back in college, participating in poetry slams made me realize that I wasn’t remotely bad-ass or funny enough for a live audience. I also showed up to my first open mic in a beret. (The mind reels.)
• To determine whether something I’ve written is good enough to see the light of day, I employ the following highly scientific strategies:

#1: The “out-loud test”

I read each sentence out loud and make changes until it no longer makes me cringe or bang my head against the keyboard.

#2: The “goosebump test”

If a key passage gives me goosebumps, it probably doesn’t suck too badly.

• I believe in the idea of “writing what you know” — but the way I see it, “what you know” ought to include the stories of those who let you “climb inside of [their] skin and walk around in it” (Atticus Finch). For each character struggling with something I haven’t personally experienced, in addition to listening to people who have, I do a ton of research. My search history has probably landed me on a few lists already.
• While I tend to steal some details from real-life people — a quirk here, a favorite hoodie there — I’d never just “copy” an entire person and turn them into a character. That would be absurdly rude (and almost certainly impossible, in any case).

That said, if you recognize yourself in one of the lovely people populating my books — welcome home. Stay as long as you want. I’m so glad you’re here.