[1] In the mid-1950s, Johnston moved to New York City to study dance under Jose Limón, but turned to writing after she broke her foot.

[9] Johnston was a member of a 1971 New York City panel produced by Shirley Broughton as part of the "Theater for Ideas" series.

Despite this colorful interruption, Greer and Mailer continued to exchange verbal blows with each other (and the audience) for the remainder of the 3½ hour event.

This event was widely written about (since so many writers were in attendance, including Susan Sontag and Cynthia Ozick) and filmed by the now-legendary documentary filmmaker D. A. Pennebaker,[11] eventually becoming the cult-documentary titled Town Bloody Hall.

She frequently hosted "lesbian camp weekends" at her country house in upstate New York; one regular visitor was architect Phyllis Birkby, who she had met at the Women's College of North Carolina.

Birkby and Johnston collaborated on the anthology Amazon Expedition, and contemplated purchasing land for a lesbian living space together in the Berkshires.

[16] In her work Films Out of Focus, specifically in the 1972 edition, Johnston presents enigmatic phrases that captivate the reader's attention, encouraging introspection.

According to author Vivian Gornick: For radical feminists like me, Ellen Willis, and Jill Johnston, we had a different kind of magazine in mind.

[18]On another occasion, Johnston grew bored at a poolside press conference given by feminist Betty Friedan, and so decided to strip off her top and take a swim.

Along with the political memoirs, Lesbian Nation and Gullible's Travels, Johnston published an anthology of dance criticism entitled Marmalade Me[21] as well as the autobiographies Mother Bound and Paper Daughter.

Early writing not collected in other volumes can be found in Admission Accomplished while the critical biography Jasper Johns represents an example of her later style.

[1] Johnston is the subject of one of Andy Warhol's portrait films, Jill, a 4½-minute silent movie shot in black and white (1963).