Yukon who is who

pj johnson

pj johnson is the daughter of a Yukon trapper. She has contributed to Canada’s art scene as a musician/composer, actor, poet, playwright, photographer, performance artist, and mentor. She composed and produced the play Dance of the Northern Lights in 1992. It was performed at the Yukon International Storytelling festival in the Yukon and at the National Gallery of Canada, and the Austrolobe Theatre in Ottawa. Her earliest poems were published in I sing Yukon (1982) and her second book, Rhymes of the Raven Lady (1995), was basically a reprint of the first. Little of her work is in print because she has a condition called nonverbal learning disorder. On 1 July 1994, pj johnson was invested by the Commissioner of the Yukon as the Poet Laureate of the Yukon and given the official symbol of office, a carved Tlingit Talking Stick, by Audrey McLaughlin.¹⁾

pj johnson’s previously unpublished work was published in it’s howlin’ time! in 2018. Johnson celebrated her 25th anniversary as Yukon’s Poet Laureate in 2018.²⁾