Johnston, Lynn Franks
Biography
Born Lynn Ridgway in Collingwood, Ontario, Lynn Franks Johnson was raised in North Vancouver, British Columbia. She attended the Vancouver School of Art with hopes of making a living as an artist. After working briefly in animation, she married in 1969, and moved back to Ontario, where she worked as a medical artist at McMaster University for five years. Johnston's illustrations are currently in storage in McMaster University's medical archive. While expecting her first child, she drew single-panel cartoons for the ceiling of her obstetrician's office. Those drawings were published in her first book entitled David We're Pregnant, which was published in 1973. Hi Mom! Hi Dad!, a sequel to David, was published in 1975. Shortly thereafter she met and married dental student Rod Johnston - and acquired the name Lynn Johnston.
In 1978, Johnston, her husband, and their two children relocated to Lynn Lake, Manitoba. She was asked by Universal Press Syndicate if she was interested in doing a comic strip. The strip first appeared in newspapers throughout Canada under the title For Better or For Worse. Many story lines draw from her family's real-life experiences. Her main characters are named after the middle names of her husband and children. Elly is modeled after a friend who died when Johnston was young. Her brother-in-law, Ralph Johnston, inspired the controversial story about Lawrence's coming out. Since the 1990s, Johnston has been notably forthcoming in her discussion of the abuse dealt by her mother and her first husband, and about being unprepared to be a mother to her son Aaron -- topics which have also been reflected in the strip. Johnston now resides in the Northern Ontario town of Corbeil. Her daughter, Katie, now lives in Corbeil and works at the For Better or For Worse studio, and her son, Aaron, works in the television industry in Vancouver, BC. In September 2007, Lynn and Rod Johnston announced their separation and intention to divorce.
(From: http://www.bookrags.com/wiki/Lynn_Johnston)
Other Information
Related Websites or Blogs
Published Work
2008. Home sweat home : a For better or for worse collection. Kansas City : Andrews McMeel Publishing (Non-fiction )
2006. I love my grandpa! : a For better or for worse book. Kansas City, MO : Andrews McMeel Publishing (Non-fiction)
2006. She's turning into one of them! : a for better or for worse collection. Kansas City, Mo. : Andrews McMeel (Non-fiction )
2005. So you're going to be a grandma! : a for better or for worse book. Kansas City : Andrews McMeel Pub. (Non-fiction)
2005. Striking a chord : a for better or for worse collection. Kansas City, MO : Andrews McMeel Publishing (Non-fiction )
2005. Never wink at a worried woman : a for better or for worse collection. Kansas, City, MO : Andrews McMeel Publishing (Non-fiction )
2004. Suddenly silver : celebrating 25 years of for better or for worse. Kansas City : Andrews McMeel Pub. (Non-fiction )
2003. Reality check : a for better or for worse collection. Kansas City, Mo. : Andrews McMeel Publishing (Non-fiction )
2003. With this ring : a for better or for worse collection. Kansas City, MO : Andrews McMeel Publishing (Non-fiction )
2003. Leaving home : survival of the hippest. Kansas City, MO : Andrews McMeel Pub. (Non-fiction)
2001. Graduation, a time for change : a For better or for worse collection. Kansas City : Andrews McMeel Pub. (Non-fiction)
2000. The big 5-0 : a for better or for worse collection. Kansas City, Mo. : Andrews McMeel Pub. (Non-fiction)
1999. Sunshine & shadow : a for better or for worse collection. Kansas City, Mo. : Andrews McMeel Publishing (Non-fiction)
1999. The lives behind the lines-- : 20 years of for better or for worse. Kansas City, Mo. : Andrews and McMeel (Non-fiction)
1998. Middle age spread : a for better or for worse collection. Kansas City, Mo. : Andrews McMeel Publishing (Non-fiction)
1997. Growing like a weed : a for better or for worse collection. Kansas City, Mo. : Andrews McMeel Publishing (Non-fiction)
1996. Remembering Farley : a tribute to the life of our favorite cartoon dog. Kansas City : Andrews and McMeel (Non-fiction)
1996. Love just screws everything up. Kansas City, Mo. : Andrews and McMeel (Non-fiction)
1993. "There goes my baby!" : a for better or for worse collection. Kansas City : Andrews and McMeel (Non-fiction)
1992. Things are looking up-- : a for better or for worse collection. Kansas City : Andrews and McMeel (Non-fiction)
1991. What, me pregnant? : a for better or for worse collection. Kansas City : Andrews and McMeel (Non-fiction)
1990. If this is a lecture, how long will it be? : a for better or for worse collection. Kansas City : Andrews and McMeel (Non-fiction)
1990. It all comes out in the wash : for better or for worse. New York : T. Doherty Associates (Non-fiction)
1989. A look inside-- for better or for worse : the 10th anniversary collection. Kansas City : Andrews & McMeel (Non-fiction)
1988. Pushing 40 : a for better for worse collection. Kansas City, MO : Andrews and McMeel (Non-fiction)
1986. Keep the home fries burning : a for better or for worse collection. Kansas City, Missouri : Andrews, McMeel & Parker (Non-fiction)
1985. The last straw : a for better or for worse collection. Kansas City, Kan. : Andrews, McMeel & Parker (Non-fiction)
1983. No sex, please, we're married. Toronto : McClelland and Stewart (Non-fiction)
1982. Is this "One of those days", daddy? Kansas City : Andrews and McMeel (Non-fiction)
1981. I've got the one-more-washload blues .... Kansas City : Andrews and McMeel (Non-fiction)
1980. Take my family ... please! Rexdale, Ont. : J. Wiley and Sons Canada (Non-fiction)
1978. Do they ever grow up? : 101 cartoons about the terrible twos and beyond. Don Mills, Ont. : Musson Book Co. (Non-fiction)
1977. Hi mom! Hi dad! : 101 cartoons / by Lynn Franks Johnston ; foreword by Mary Blum. Toronto : Peter Martin Associates (Non-fiction)
1975. David, we're pregnant!! : 101 cartoons. Hamilton, Ont. : Potlatch Publications (Non-fiction)
