Hi there! I’m the former chief Ukraine correspondent at The Washington Post. I was let go during the paper’s recent round of mass layoffs and am now looking for work, ideally in Kyiv. You can find my LinkedIn here. In the meantime, I am currently freelancing.
Before I joined The Post in 2021, I was on the investigations and enterprise desk at The San Francisco Chronicle, mostly focused on wildfires. My first book, Paradise: One Town’s Struggle to Survive an American Wildfire, is about the blaze that leveled the Northern California town of Paradise. It was awarded the Gold Medal for nonfiction in the 2022 California Book Awards contest and was developed as an Oscar-nominated feature film, starring Matthew McConaughey and America Ferrera, for which I was an executive producer.
I’m a four-time finalist for the Livingston Awards, most recently for my work out of Ukraine, where I have reported since 2023. The California News Publishers Association has recognized me for Best Writing, Best Profile, Best Enterprise, Best Feature and Best Wildfire Feature. In 2021, I won first place in longform feature writing in the Best of the West contest. In 2023, I received the Freedom of the Press Award.
I have appeared on Longform Podcast, This American Life, Longreads, and Climate One from the Commonwealth Club. My work has been featured by the Columbia Journalism Review, the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma, The New York Times, Rolling Stone, and Harvard’s Nieman Storyboard. For an episode of This American Life, I interviewed my grandfather, a conservative farmer in the American Midwest, on voting a straight Democratic ticket for the first time in his life. In 2020, Lauren Markham profiled my wildfire coverage, for which I attended a professional firefighting academy.
I’m a Boston Marathon-qualifying long-distance runner, have climbed some of the tallest peaks in the Americas, and once trail-ran Rim to Rim to Rim in the Grand Canyon in a single day. Want to say hi? I’m at eajohnson1993@gmail.com.
Photo taken by Wojciech Grzędziński in the Donbas, 2023.
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An alleged $500 million Ponzi scheme preyed on Mormons. It ended with FBI gunfire. | The Washington Post, February 1, 2023
Winner of the 2023 Freedom of the Press Catalyst Award and the National Press Club President's Award.They trusted a coach with their girls and Ivy League ambitions. Now he’s accused of sex abuse. | The Washington Post, November 30, 2021
The Evidence Burns Away: As California’s wildfire crisis exploded, the state assigned 30 officers to follow a suspected arsonist and blend into his community. Could they thwart disaster? | The San Francisco Chronicle, December 17, 2020
Finalist for the 2021 Livingston Awards and the 2021 Online Journalism AwardsA Fire’s Unfathomable Toll: The Shepherds followed their dreams to a ridge in Mendocino County. In a flash of flame, everything changed. | The San Francisco Chronicle, April 26, 2019
Finalist for the 2020 Livingston Awards150 Minutes of Hell: The inside story of death and survival as the Carr Fire's tornado of flames stormed Redding— and changed firefighting in a warming California. | The San Francisco Chronicle, December 12, 2018
Finalist for the 2019 Livingston AwardsEvicted: A girl’s story. As pandemic evictions restrictions end, California families are being forced out of their homes. Bre-Anna Valenzuela just wanted to keep hers together. | The San Francisco Chronicle, June 11, 2021
After Prison, the Fight to be a Firefighter. | The San Francisco Chronicle, November 10, 2021
You don’t get to forget her’: Her sister was killed at Oxford High. She refuses to let the school move on. | The Washington Post, May 13, 2022
Saving Antonio: Can a renowned hospital keep a boy from being shot again? | The Washington Post, May 3, 2022
Finding Kyle: His leap from the Golden Gate Bridge left Kyle Gamboa’s family grief-stricken and confused. But in trying to understand his death, they found a way to help others. | The San Francisco Chronicle, February 8, 2019
Why the famed Appalachian Trail keeps getting longer — and harder. | The Washington Post, July 27, 2023
Profit, pain and puppies: Inside the rescue of nearly 4,000 beagles. | The Washington Post, October 17, 2022
Long Lives Cut Short: When the coronavirus came to San Francisco’s Bayview, it attacked the heart of the historically black neighborhood — the elders. | The San Francisco Chronicle, May 15, 2020
She’s 16. The war in Ukraine wrecked her city — and her childhood. | The Washington Post, January 7, 2024
Kyiv’s bombed children’s hospital rebuilds, and one boy heads home. | The Washington Post, September 13, 2024
When Russian bombs fall on Kharkiv, this man collects the evidence. | The Washington Post, September 17, 2024
This three-part package was a finalist for the 2025 Livingston AwardsA Russian missile, filled with U.S. tech, rips a Ukrainian boy’s life apart. | The Washington Post, December 19, 2025
Russia bombs Ukraine almost every night. This is what it sounds like. | The Washington Post, September 8, 2025
Zelensky and Trump may be doing better, but tough issues lie ahead. | The Washington Post, March 27, 2025
Ukraine marines recount deadly mission to free towns east of Dnieper River. | The Washington Post, January 4, 2024
These drones are hitting Russia’s energy sector. Moscow wants them stopped. | The Washington Post, March 19, 2025
North Korean troops key to Russian advances in Kursk. | The Washington Post, March 18, 2025
In Kharkiv, ambulance crews await shelling — and a new year of war. | The Washington Post, January 1, 2024
Meet Ukraine’s top fighting unit — at least that’s what its ad says. | The Washington Post, October 14, 2024
Ukraine ramps up artillery production amid fears of falling U.S. support. | The Washington Post, April 19, 2025
How a Russian airstrike ripped through people’s lives in Ukraine’s Poltava. | The Washington Post, September 6, 2024
They met at a summer camp for traumatized children — and fell in love. | The Washington Post, August 24, 2025
To save her granddaughter from Russian occupation, her grandmother would have to let her go. | The Washington Post, October 12, 2025
Thousands of Ukraine’s children vanished into Russia. This one made it back. | The Washington Post, June 1, 2025
For many Ukrainian artists, fighting Russia in war is tragic last act. | The Washington Post, December 24, 2023
No air raid sirens on Ukraine’s tallest mountain, just the promise of a future. | The Washington Post, October 6, 2024
Regret Haunts Wine Country Fire Hero. | The San Francisco Chronicle, July 13, 2018
Alone and aging on the street. | The San Francisco Chronicle, July 10, 2020
The life and death of San Francisco’s fourth coronavirus victim. | The San Francisco Chronicle, April 13, 2020
The sky was blue. The day was perfect. One year after the Camp Fire, everything was still gone. | The San Francisco Chronicle, November 8, 2019
This was Paradise: ‘How do you quantify everything being gone?’ | The San Francisco Chronicle, November 10, 2018
Yountville killings shatter a young family. | The San Francisco Chronicle, March 14, 2018
Mariposa Lines Up to Salute fallen hero. July 17, 2018
National Spelling Bee rivals: Two kids vie for supremacy after tying last year. | The Washington Post, June 6, 2023