{{short description|New Zealand author, art curator and historian}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2017}} {{Infobox writer | name = Alexa Johnston | embed = | honorific_prefix = | honorific_suffix = | image = | image_size = | image_upright = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = | birth_place = | death_date = | death_place = | resting_place = | occupation = | language = | nationality = New Zealander | alma_mater = Northcote College, University of Auckland | genre = Biography, cookery | notableworks = ''Sir Edmund Hillary: An Extraordinary Life'', ''Ladies, a Plate'' | awards = Lifestyle & Contemporary Culture Award, Recipe Book of the Year | website = [http://www.ladiesaplate.co.nz Ladies, a plate] | residence = }}
'''Alexa Johnston''' is an author, art curator, and historian from New Zealand.
== Background == Johnston attended Northcote College. She studied Art History at the University of Auckland.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/EN/New/recommendedauthors/Pages/alexajohnston.aspx|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160128050450/http://www.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/EN/New/recommendedauthors/Pages/alexajohnston.aspx|url-status=dead|archive-date=28 January 2016|title=Alexa Johnston|date=28 January 2016|website=Auckland Libraries|access-date=26 November 2017}}</ref>
== Career == Johnston worked for nineteen years as a curator at the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=https://www.penguin.co.nz/authors/alexa-johnston|title=Alexa Johnston|work=Penguin New Zealand|access-date=26 November 2017|language=en}}</ref>
Following the 2002 exhibition, 'Sir Edmund Hillary: Everest and Beyond', which she curated for Auckland Museum, Johnston published her first book, ''Sir Edmund Hillary: An Extraordinary Life.''<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite book|title=Sir Edmund Hillary: An Extraordinary Life|last=Johnston|first=Alexa|publisher=Penguin|year=2005|isbn=9780670045549}}</ref> The book was translated into German by Ursula Pesch and Hans Freundl.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Sir Edmund Hillary: Die Biografie|last=Johnston|first=Alexa|translator-last1=Pesch|translator-first1=Ursula|translator-last2=Freundl|translator-first2=Hans|publisher=NG Taschenbuch|year=2013|isbn=9783492404709}}</ref> Johnston collaborated with David Larsen to write ''Reaching the Summit'', biography of Edmund Hillary for young adults.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.penguin.co.nz/books/reaching-the-summit-sir-edmund-hillarys-story-9780143006664|title=Reaching the Summit: Sir Edmund Hillary's Story by Alexa Johnston|work=Penguin New Zealand|access-date=26 November 2017|language=en}}</ref>
Johnston has published a number of books celebrating New Zealand's culinary history including ''Ladies, a Plate (''2008), ''A Second Helping ''(2009), ''What's For Pudding? ''(2011), and ''Ladies, a Plate: Jams and Preserves'' (2016).<ref name=":0" />
In 2016, Johnston edited and revised the ''Edmonds Cookery Book'' for its 69th De Luxe edition.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Steenhart|first=Josie|date=2016-09-28|title=Iconic Edmonds cookbook given mouthwatering makeover|url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/food-wine/84779453/iconic-edmonds-cookbook-given-mouthwatering-makeover|access-date=2021-03-30|website=Stuff|language=en}}</ref>
== Awards ==
''Sir Edmund Hillary: An Extraordinary Life'' received the non-fiction honour award in the 2008 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=http://www.nzbookawards.nz/new-zealand-book-awards/past-winners-by-author?letter=J|title=Past Winners by Author|website=New Zealand Book Awards Trust|access-date=26 November 2017}}</ref>
The first book in her cookery series, ''Ladies, a Plate'', won the Lifestyle & Contemporary Culture Award at the 2009 Montana New Zealand Book Awards.<ref name=":1" /> It also won the Publishers' Association of New Zealand Award for Best Illustrated Book and was Recipe Book of the Year in the New Zealand Guild of Food Writers Culinary Quill Awards.<ref name=":0" />
Johnston's books have also won design awards, including Best Cover in the 2006 Spectrum Book Design Awards for ''Sir Edmund Hillary: An Extraordinary Life''<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.publishers.org.nz/spectrum-book-design-awards-2006-winners/|title=Spectrum Book Design Awards 2006 winners|date=11 October 2007|work=Publishers Association of New Zealand Inc|access-date=26 November 2017|language=en-US}}</ref> and Nielsen Award for Best Book for ''Ladies, A Plat''e at the 2009 PANZ Book Design Awards.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.bookdesignawards.co.nz/archive/2009-archive-main/|title=2009 PANZ Book Design Awards|date=27 October 2012|work=PANZ Book Design Awards|access-date=26 November 2017|language=en-US}}</ref>
== References == {{reflist|30em}}
== External links == * [http://www.ladiesaplate.co.nz Ladies, a plate] - personal website
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnston, Alexa}} Category:Living people Category:University of Auckland alumni Category:21st-century New Zealand women writers Category:New Zealand art historians Category:Women art historians Category:New Zealand cookbook writers Category:New Zealand women food writers Category:New Zealand biographers Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:New Zealand women biographers Category:People educated at Northcote College Category:New Zealand art curators Category:New Zealand women curators Category:21st-century New Zealand historians Category:21st-century New Zealand non-fiction writers