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Jane Johnson

@janejohnsonbakrim.bsky.social

6.9K followers 1.6K following 1.3K posts

Writer (Secrets of the Bees; Black Crescent, White Hare, Sea Gate, Tenth Gift etc), publisher (GRRM, Hobb, Feist, Lawrence, Heartfield, Kaner, ex Tolkien), allotmenteer. History. Morocco/Cornwall. Covid is airborne 💙📚 #Writing #Books

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Jane Johnson @janejohnsonbakrim.bsky.social · Nov 10

Reintroducing myself to try to find my people after X meltdown! Publisher at HarperCollins (GRRM, Hobb, Feist, Lawrence, Kaner, Heartfield), author of 20 novels, inc Tenth Gift, Salt Road, Sea Gate and Black Crescent for Simon & Schuster and Head of Zeus. Look forward to meeting you! #books

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Jane Johnson @janejohnsonbakrim.bsky.social · 1d

Well, this has come out of the blue. Financially, we’ve had an excellent year. I’ll miss Charlie - an affable fellow, elder brother of Eddie Redmayne. Kate is a publisher to her core, though. A very safe pair of hands who will keep the giant ship steady. #books www.thebookseller.com/news/harperc...

HarperCollins CEO Charlie Redmayne resigns as Kate Elton steps up

HarperCollins UK CEO Charlie Redmayne has resigned from his post, with Kate Elton appointed as interim CEO.

www.thebookseller.com

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Jane Johnson @janejohnsonbakrim.bsky.social · 2d

Really looking forward to this new HBO adaptation (coming in January). These stories are wonderful, set around 90 years before A GAME OF THRONES, and I'm so proud to have published them. #books 💙📚

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Jane Johnson @janejohnsonbakrim.bsky.social · 3d

Magnificent.

Mark Chadbourn @chadbourn.bsky.social · 3d

Warrior and legend.

KOJAMF🤘🖤🤘 @kojamf.bsky.social · 3d

Dr. Jane Goodall filmed an interview with Netflix in March 2025 that she understood would only be released after her death.

Jane Johnson @janejohnsonbakrim.bsky.social · 4d

They already finance him.

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Jane Johnson @janejohnsonbakrim.bsky.social · 7d

Lovely tributes to poet Brian Patten throughout the news and press, as there should be. His wife Linda Cookson reminded me yesterday that he had been afforded the Freedom of the City of Liverpool, which made him so proud. www.itv.com/news/granada...

www.itv.com

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Jane Johnson @janejohnsonbakrim.bsky.social · 7d

Thanks, Terri. It’s such a sad loss for all of us x

Jane Johnson @janejohnsonbakrim.bsky.social · 8d

Oh, Martin 💔

Jane Johnson @janejohnsonbakrim.bsky.social · 8d

He had the biggest of hearts, and never forgot how hard it had been to get started in the literary world.

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Jane Johnson @janejohnsonbakrim.bsky.social · 8d

It really is. I shall carry the image of those little boats burning in the red light of dusk.

Jane Johnson @janejohnsonbakrim.bsky.social · 8d

Thanks, Nick. It's a loss for all of us.

Reposted by Jane Johnson

Jane Johnson @janejohnsonbakrim.bsky.social · 8d

I'm so sad to have lost my brilliant, mercurial friend, poet Brian Patten, with whom I worked for 39 years. This is how he signed off his last email to me: "It's dragonfly time here. The lake down the lane is alight with them..."
Brian, you left the world alight with your words.
Obit in comments.
💙📚

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Reposted by Jane Johnson

Colin Smith @colinsmith.bsky.social · 8d

Oh no. RIP Brian Patten. Unwittingly but significantly, Patten had a huge influence over the high summer of superhero comics in the 80s. Alan Moore loved Patten’s poem “Where Are You Now, Batman?” & it strongly influenced his Marvelman stories & more. Which then influenced just about everyone else.

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Reposted by Jane Johnson

Stephen McGann @stephenmcgann.uk · 8d

Many claims are made for the power of poetry to change lives. All I can offer on the death of Brian Patten is a simple truth. This poem - sent to me by my not-then-wife - is the reason I am with her 40 years on.

RIP Brian. x

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Jane Johnson @janejohnsonbakrim.bsky.social · 8d

I was his editor. I shall miss him terribly. Here's 'Armada', about the death of his mother.

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Jane Johnson @janejohnsonbakrim.bsky.social · 8d

It's so strange. I was overcome by sadness yesterday afternoon and suddenly thought, I must tell Brian the new Nazrudin/Joha story my (Moroccan) husband had told me the day before (same trickster tradition). I edited Brian for nearly 40 years and he became a dear friend. I will miss him terribly.

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Jane Johnson @janejohnsonbakrim.bsky.social · 8d

www.theguardian.com/books/2025/s...

Liverpool poet Brian Patten dies at 79

His poetry often explored love and relationships and he wrote books for children including Gargling With Jelly

www.theguardian.com

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Jane Johnson @janejohnsonbakrim.bsky.social · 8d

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Jane Johnson @janejohnsonbakrim.bsky.social · 8d

She saw the GP but no one could fill the prescription.

Jane Johnson @janejohnsonbakrim.bsky.social · 10d

Too bloody true

Reposted by Jane Johnson

Jane Johnson @janejohnsonbakrim.bsky.social · 11d

Beautiful walk today ... but there's a story behind it. Settle in.
Cornwall is beautiful, a lovely place to grow up, a lovely place to visit. But it can be a hard place to live in. I was walking through these woods to reach a friend in need.... 1/6

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Jane Johnson @janejohnsonbakrim.bsky.social · 11d

Oh, good luck with that. x

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Jane Johnson @janejohnsonbakrim.bsky.social · 11d

You definitely should in between checks - I love Cornwall out of season if you can find a cosy Airbnb.

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Jane Johnson @janejohnsonbakrim.bsky.social · 11d

Ah, I’ve been in that place of 3-monthly checks - very emotionally draining. I’m glad they’re saving you, but yes, Treliske is not sufficient.

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Jane Johnson @janejohnsonbakrim.bsky.social · 11d

And we are seriously considering moving for just this reason. It really is sad. Thank you, Kate, so do I. x

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Jane Johnson @janejohnsonbakrim.bsky.social · 11d

Truly.

And then there's another dear friend who was bluelighted into hospital with a Covid-related heart emergency ... and caught Covid again on the cardiac ward.

And the two friends whose severe cancers have been missed because important scans haven't been done in time... It's bad.

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