His sophomore novel, Welcome to Braggsville, won the 2015 Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence, the 2016 William Saroyan International Prize for Fiction Writing, and the inaugural Simpson Family Literary Prize in 2017.
As of 2024[update], he is in the process of completing a Doctor of Philosophy in language, literacy, and culture from University of California, Berkeley.
[1][3] In 2007, Johnson's short story "Winter Never Quits" was included in Harvest Books' Best New American Voices 2007.
[4] Johnson's debut novel, Hold It 'Til It Hurts, was published by Coffee House Press in 2012.
[16][17] In 2016, after his nomination the previous year, Johnson was named a judge for the National Book Award for Fiction.