This Goodly Land

Rheta Grimsley Johnson (November 30, 1953–present)

Other Names Used

• Rheta Grimsley: birth name

Alabama Connections

• Montgomery, Montgomery County: childhood residence
• Auburn, Lee County: education
• Monroeville, Monroe County: brief adult residence
• Birmingham, Jefferson County: brief adult residence

Selected Works

• Johnson, Rheta Grimsley. America's Faces. Memphis: St. Luke's Press, 1987.
• Johnson, Rheta Grimsley. Good Grief: The Story of Charles M. Schulz. New York: Pharos Books, 1989.
• Johnson, Rheta Grimsley. Poor Man's Provence: Finding Myself in Cajun Louisiana. Montgomery: NewSouth Books, 2007.
• Johnson, Rheta Grimsley. Enchanted Evening Barbie and the Second Coming: A Memoir. Montgomery: NewSouth Books, 2010.

Literary Awards

• Ernie Pyle Award for Human Interest Writing, Scripps Howard Foundation, 1983
• Distinguished Writing Award, Commentary, American Society of Newspaper Editors, 1983
• National Headliners Award, Commentary, Press Club of Atlantic City, 1986

Biographical Information

Rheta Grimsley Johnson was born in Colquitt, Ga., and grew up in Montgomery, Ala. She knew at an early age that she wanted to become a journalist and began working on her school newspaper in eighth grade. Johnson majored in journalism at Auburn University, graduating in 1975. During her senior year, she was editor of the university newspaper. After her marriage to cartoonist Jimmy Johnson, the couple started a weekly paper on St. Simon Island, Ga. The paper closed after six months, and Johnson worked for several years for newspapers in Alabama and Mississippi and for United Press International. In 1980, Johnson became a reporter for The Memphis Commercial Appeal. She soon began writing columns for the Commercial Appeal as well.

In 1983, the Scripps-Howard News Service began distributing Johnson’s columns nationwide. Johnson was on the road much of the time, traveling around the South to gather material for her columns. In 1987, a collection of her columns for the Commercial Appeal was published as America’s Faces. Two years later, Johnson published a biography of Peanuts cartoonist Charles M. Schultz. In 1994, Johnson began working as a staff columnist for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and moved to Carrollton, Ga. She left the Journal-Constitution in 2001 and moved to Iuka, Miss. Johnson and her second husband divide their time between Iuka and Henderson, La. She continues to write syndicated columns on a weekly basis.

Interests and Themes

Rheta Grimsley Johnson writes largely about life in the contemporary rural South. Her biography of Charles M. Schultz offers a respectful examination of the cartoonist and his work.

For More Information

Please check your local library for these materials. If items are not available locally, your librarian can help you borrow them through the InterLibrary Loan program. Your librarian can also help you find other information about this author.

There may be more information available through the databases in the Alabama Virtual Library. If you are an Alabama citizen, AVL can be used at your public library or school library media center. You can also get a username and password from your librarian to use AVL at home.

Reference Articles

• Dodd, Julie E. "Rheta Grimsley-Johnson [sic]". Quill & Scroll Feb.-Mar. 1987: 7-8.
• Wilson, George T. "Paid to Make a Point: Rheta Grimsley Johnson on Writing Columns". Writer's Digest Jan. 1991: 38-40.
• Wilson, George T. "They Are a Columnist-Cartoonist Couple". Editor & Publisher 7 May. 1988: 40-43.

Reference Web Sites

• "Rheta Grimsley Johnson". Mississippi Writers & Musicians. 2009. Starkville [Miss.] High School. http://www.mswritersandmusicians.com/writers/rheta-grimsley-johnson.html.
• Beasley, Carole Ottaway. "Rheta Grimsley Johnson". The Encyclopedia of Alabama. 2009. Alabama Humanities Foundation and Auburn University. http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-2494.

Photo courtesy of NewSouth Books.

Last updated on May 30, 2008.