Biographies

Lynn Johnston (Born in May, 1947)

Short Bio

Lynn Johnston is the Canadian creator of the comic strip, For Better or For Worse®. This family-based series has been syndicated since 1979 and was named Best Syndicated Comic Strip in 1992. At its peak, For Better or For Worse® appeared in more than 2,000 newspapers in 23 countries, and was translated into eight languages for a devoted readership of more than 220 million. Johnston was born in Collingwood, Ontario and grew up in British Columbia. Johnston was the first woman to receive a Reuben Award for Cartoonist of the Year by the National Cartoonist Society in 1986.

Mid-Length Bio

Lynn Johnston is the Canadian creator of the comic strip, For Better or For Worse®. This family-based series has been syndicated since 1979 and was named Best Syndicated Comic Strip in 1992. At its peak, For Better or For Worse® appeared in more than 2,000 newspapers in 23 countries, and was translated into eight languages for a devoted readership of more than 220 million.

Johnston was born in Collingwood, Ontario and grew up in British Columbia. After living in Manitoba and Ontario for many years, she now calls North Vancouver, BC home once again. Johnston was the first woman to receive a Reuben Award for Cartoonist of the Year by the National Cartoonist Society in 1986. She has also received the Order of Canada and claims a star on Canada’s Walk of Fame. In 2008, Johnston retired from For Better or For Worse®, at which time the comic strip was republished from the beginning and is now in reruns.

In 2015, Johnston was honoured by the Art Gallery of Sudbury, Ontario with a touring exhibit of her work. In 2019, the Embassy of Canada in Washington, DC showcased Johnston’s work in a gallery exhibit.

Long Bio

Lynn Johnston was born in Collingwood, Ontario Canada and grew up in British Columbia. Her father was a jeweller, her mother a calligrapher and bookkeeper.

Johnston attended the Vancouver School of Art hoping to make a career as an artist. Her main interest was animation. After two years of art college, she took a job in an animation studio in Vancouver, where she worked in the ink and paint department and began to apprentice as an animator.

After getting married in 1967, Johnston moved to Ontario and got a job as a medical illustrator at McMaster University.

In 1972, Johnston discovered that she was expecting her first child, Aaron, and left McMaster to work at home. Her obstetrician challenged her to do some drawings for the ceilings above his examining tables. These were published in a book called David, We're Pregnant, which sold over 300,000 copies.

Shortly after the publication of her first book, Johnston was divorced and working as a commercial artist—freelancing from a small backyard greenhouse she had turned into a studio.

In 1975, Hi Mom, Hi Dad was published, a sequel to David… By this time, Johnston was remarried. She continued to freelance until her daughter, Kate, was born. Do They Ever Grow Up? was the third publication in her first sequence of books about parenting. Not long after this book was published, the Johnston family relocated to Lynn Lake, Manitoba.

In 1978, Universal Press Syndicate saw the three books and asked if Johnston was interested in doing a daily comic strip. She signed a twenty-year contract, and the work on For Better or For Worse® began.

For Better or For Worse® was printed in newspapers around the world for 29 years. The series wrapped up in August of 2008. It has since been published from the beginning as re-runs.

Johnston was the first woman to receive a Reuben Award for Cartoonist of the Year by the National Cartoonists Society in 1986. She has been nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, has received the Order of Canada, and claims a star on Canada's Walk of Fame.

After living in Manitoba and Ontario for many years, Johnston now calls North Vancouver, BC home once again.