Rebecca Johns
Rebecca Johns (born 1971) is an author and educator. She is a graduate of the University of Missouri's School of Journalism and the Iowa Writers' Workshop. She is the author of "Icebergs" and "The Countess". Johns is a member of the DePaul University English Department and teaches annually at the Iowa Summer Writing Festival in Iowa City. Early career. Rebecca Johns grew up in northern Illinois and attended Antioch Community High School. She then attended University of Missouri at Columbia, where she majored in Journalism and English (1993). Johns has written for several notable publications, including "Mademoiselle , Woman's Day, Self, Cosmopolitan, the Chicago Tribune, Ladies' Home Journal, the Harvard Review, the Mississippi Review and Ploughshares". Novels. Icebergs. Johns is the author of "Icebergs" (2006) (), which opens in Canada during World War II with a harrowing plane crash. Crewmember Walt Dunmore returns home, but his life and those of his family are forever altered by the damage the tragedy causes. "Icebergs" follows Walt and his family from Canada to the United States through multiple generations, with the past casting a shadow over their lives. "Icebergs" was a finalist for the 2007 Hemingway Foundation / PEN Award for first  fiction and a recipient of the Michener-Copernicus Fellowship. The Countess. "The Countess" is Johns's newest work (October 2010) (). The novel follows the life of Elizabeth Báthory (Erzsebet Báthory), the "Blood Countess" who was one of the historical figures some believe inspired the fictional Dracula.