Major Works
Photo of Rheta Grimsley Johnson by Nancy Jacobs
- Hank Hung the Moon (2012)
- Enchanted Evening Barbie and the Second Coming (2010)
- Poor Man’s Provence: Finding Myself in Cajun Louisiana (2008)
- Good Grief: The Story of Charles M. Schulz (1989)
- America’s Faces (1987)
- They Didn’t Put That on the Huntley-Brinkley!: A Vagabond Reporter Encounters the New South (Hunter James and Rheta Grimsley Johnson, 1993)
Biography of Rheta Grimley Johnson
Writer Rheta Grimsley Johnson was born in 1953 in Colquitt, Georgia, but she grew up in Montgomery, Alabama. She studied journalism at Auburn University and graduated in 1977. While on staff at The Auburn Plainsman, she was awarded the 1974-75 National Pacemaker Award.
She worked for several years as a general reporter for several newspapers before being hired at the Memphis Commercial Appeal in 1980. Her columns became nationally distributed in 1983 and were published in approximately 300 papers.
In 1994 she was hired at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution where she worked for seven years. Over the years she has won numerous other awards for her writing including the Ernie Pyle Memorial Award for human interest reporting in 1983, the Headliner Award for commentary in 1985, the American Society of Newspaper Editors’ Distinguished Writing Award for commentary in 1982.
In 1986 she was inducted into the Scripps Howard Newspapers Editorial Hall of Fame. In 1991 Johnson was one of three finalists for the Pulitzer Prize for commentary. Today Johnson’s column appears in about fifty newspapers nationwide and is syndicated by King Features of New York.
Photo of Rheta Grimsley Johnson by Nancy N. Jacobs
She was once married to Jimmy Johnson, creator of the comic strip Arlo and Janis. She married retired journalism professor Don Grierson. Johnson’s second husband Don died in 2009. In December 2010, Rheta Johnson married Hines Hall, a retired Auburn University professor of history.
Johnson lives in Iuka, Mississippi.
Rheta Grimsley Johnson photo by Nancy N. Jacobs
Related Websites
- Short bio on Rheta Grimsley Johnson
- Encyclopedia of Alabama entry for Johnson.
- John F. Blair publisher has bio for Johnson.
- Auburn University lecture by Johnson
- You Tube video of Johnson on PBS’s Writers
- New South article on Johnson.
- Rheta Grimsley Johnson Named 2010 Clarence Cason Award Winner
- Old pickup: Poetry in Motion (article by Johnson in the Times Daily)
- Ray Charles was just folks’ like us (2004 article by Johnson in the Daily Journal)