Author Jessica Johns: How storytelling shaped the way she walks in the world

By Laura Mushumanski

(ANNews) – “Storytelling was a big part of my life while growing up in Treaty 8,” author of Bad Cree, Jessica Johns shared. “I was always surrounded by family telling stories and jokes.” And for Johns, a member of Sucker Creek First Nation, family is everything – especially when it comes to understanding what an auntie means.

In nehiyawe, the Cree language, nikawiys (meaning auntie), literally translates as my mother’s sister, my second mom, with the understanding of ‘we take care of each other, always’ – kinship. These memories tied to Johns’ childhood were of her own aunties, how they were always together cooking, crafting, organizing – with storytelling being in the center of it all.

Johns’ family inspired her, where she thought a lot about stories leading her to want to learn how to write and find her voice within her writing. As her writing craft grew, she started to incorporate her craft into her everyday life, like with family, she built a relationship with the ways she walks with storytelling. Finding balance with her writing also became important, with a deep understanding of teachings from the medicine wheel. “I made sure to take time for my health,” shared Johns. “For me, writing is part of my mental and spiritual health and also knowing how to find balance when writing. Taking care of my physical health through movement was also something I learned along the way”.

Over time, Johns came to know things differently and to understand that “writing can’t happen if you are not in the world experiencing it,” she said. So far, her journey has taught her that developing her craft has been a personal journey of building that relationship with storytelling, that everyone will experience writing and the way they go about writing, differently.

“Being involved in ceremony made my life so much better,” Johns emphasized on how it became an important practice in her life. “It is a place where I can emotionally and spiritually connect with myself.” In turn, ceremony became an understanding of her relationship to Mother Earth, “I started to build a deeper relationship with the land and water, and how significant it became for my writing.” All-in-all, for Johns, “ceremony lead me in a good way, taught me to be more mindful, and had a positive impact on me.”

Jessica Johns debut novel, Bad Cree, won the MacEwan Book of the Year award, along with the 2024 Alex Awards; the book was also on the 2024 CBC Canada Reads longlist. When Johns is not writing, she practices her skills as an auntie while working as the Indigenous Initiatives Lead for the FIRE (funding indigenous resurgence in Edmonton) at the Edmonton Heritage Council.

Laura Mushumanski is a Local Journalism Initiative Reporter