Bayard Johnson

Bayard Johnson studied philosophy and writing at the University of Puget Sound. A licensed Master Mariner, he worked as a fisherman in Alaska and as captain of an oil spill recovery ship in California while embarking on his writing career. His novel Damned Right was published by Fiction Collective 2 in 1994, and Johnson toured the U.S. and Europe upon the book’s release. He made a second European tour with the book’s publication in German translation, under the title Speed Taxi, in 1998. Johnson has written over 100 short stories, which have been published in numerous journals and anthologies including Fiction International, Exquisite Corpse, Theater der Zeit (Berlin), and Alt-X. As a founding member of the band Mother Nature’s Army, Johnson has written numerous songs which have aired on radio stations across the U.S. and Europe, and has toured the West Coast, the American Midwest, and Europe. He also wrote and produced rock ‘n’ roll albums with Russell Means and the late Dr. Timothy Leary. Johnson has made two trips to Africa to work on feature films which he wrote, and has written movies based on the classic Tarzan character and on Kipling’s Jungle Book series. His first African movie, Damned River, shot in Zimbabwe, is among the Top 20 action movies of the 1980s in the Netflix database. Johnson has written and/or produced feature films which have been bought and produced by Warner Brothers, Disney, Sony Pictures, MGM/UA, and 20th Century Fox. With partner Bill Duke (director of Deep Cover and co-star of Predator), Johnson co-wrote and sold a TV series to HBO in 2008. With partner Russell Means, Johnson co-wrote the feature screenplay Wounded Knee 1973, the story of the 71-day shootout and subsequent 9-month federal trial, which resulted in complete exoneration of Russell and co-defendant Dennis Banks. Johnson and Means also collaborated on the award-winning short film Looks Twice, the first film based on a traditional Lakotah story and the first movie produced in association with the American Indian Movement. In 2012 Johnson and Means published the book If You’ve Forgotten the Names of the Clouds, You’ve Lost Your Way: An Introduction to American Indian Thought and Philosophy. Johnson is currently producing the independent feature film Man In a Cage, a movie about revolution and subversion, now in post-production.