Truly Johnston grew up in London and is mixed heritage Sri Lankan / English. She has a degree in English Literature from the University of Cambridge and has worked with charities in London over the last seventeen years. In 2021 Truly took part in the WriteMentor programme working with the author Joan Haig. In 2022 she was selected to join the Penguin #WriteNow programme and in 2023 her middle grade children’s novel, Corrine and the Democonch, won the Bath Childrens’ Novel Award.
Truly writes poetry, short stories and childrens fiction. Her work has featured in Paperbound Magazine and the Hyacinth Review and she was published in the London Independent Story Prize, Rising Stars Anthology in January 2024. Truly likes to explore the everyday magical in her writing, play with imagery and imagine what strange worlds might lie beneath the surface of our experience.
Truly lives in South East London with her husband, daughter and three noisy chickens. She loves dark chocolate with ginger and cooking tasty Sri-Lankan food. When not working or writing she can often be found singing and playing guitar, enjoying the local parks and exhibitions or doodling in her sketchbook.
