Rachael Johns is the bestselling author of THE PATTERSON GIRLS, winner of the Australian Book Industry Award (ABIA) for General Fiction 2016, and a two-time recipient of the Romance Writers of Australia’s RUBY Award. With more than 30 novels to her name, she’s one of Australia’s most beloved authors of warm, witty women’s fiction, heartfelt rural romance and feel-good romantic comedies.
She’s also a passionate advocate for books, readers and the Australian writing community.
Rachael co-hosts the podcasts Reading Between Deadlines and Dear Rach & Soph, runs the 7,500-member Rachael Johns’ Book Club on Facebook, and writes the Substack newsletter Pink Ink, where she shares a behind-the-scenes look at writing life.
Rachael has been writing since seventeen when she accidentally dumped up her high school boyfriend. Devastated (in the wonderfully dramatic way only a seventeen-year-old can be), she turned to writing as therapy. It didn’t take long to discover the joy of creating a world where she controlled the ending. In that very first story, she rewrote history... by killing him off. The writing was therapeutic, the novel was spectacularly cringe-worthy, but she’d caught the writing bug.
Almost a decade later, after completing a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Writing and English and writing plenty of practice novels that will never see the light of day, she joined Romance Writers of Australia. It was there she discovered that writing a novel involved far more than simply putting words on a page. She fell in love with craft, character development, conflict and emotional storytelling and realised contemporary romance was exactly what she wanted to write.
That dream became reality when she signed her first publishing contract. Her debut novel was released in December 2011, and she’s been living her dream ever since. Today, Rachael writes women’s fiction, rural romance, romantic comedies, and in 2027 will release her first co-written cromance (crime-romance) novel.
Rachael lives in the Swan Valley with her husband, a sheepadoodle, a grumpy ginger cat and two out of three of adult sons. She hopes that when you pick up one of her books you’ll laugh, cry, fall in love with the characters and feel just a little bereft when you turn the final page.
‘…arguably the best romantic writer in Australia.’
The Australian
10 Things About Me
I started writing after a breakup at seventeen and immediately killed off my ex in fiction. No regrets.
I have a degree in Writing and English, which I mostly use to justify the number of books I buy.
I once wrote a biker romance—which was super fun to write (and a little bit terrifying).
I believe Diet Coke should only be consumed from a can and in a glass. Size IS important. And no, Pepsi Max or Coke No Sugar are NOT okay.
I don’t believe in ironing and do it as little as possible. Read, only when absolutely necessary in a hotel room.
My celebrity crush is Grant Denyer, and no, I will not be taking further questions.
My wardrobe is about 73% pink. The rest is earrings.
The best thing about working from home is that I can stumble out of bed and into my office without having to get dressed or put on make-up.
I’m a drama nerd and when I get stuck on a manuscript I threaten to run away and try to make it on Broadway.
I have a tattoo reminding me to ‘trust the magic’ when point number nine happens.