Minor Characters

Joyce Johnson (born Joyce Glassman; 1935) is an American author of fiction and nonfiction closely associated with the Beat Generation, best known for her memoir Minor Characters (1983), which won the National Book Critics Circle Award and chronicled her relationship with Jack Kerouac. Her notable works include the debut novel Come and Join the Dance (1962), recognized as the first Beat novel by a woman, novels Bad Connections (1978) and In the Night Cafe (1987)—a chapter of which won the O. Henry Prize—and the Kerouac biography The Voice is All (2012). Read more →