Daniel Johnson published How to Catch a Falling Knife, winner of the Kinereth Gensler Award, in 2010 with Alice James Books. In connection with the book's release, Johnson performed an illuminated version of the text involving poetry, original music, and the found home movies of William Bradley, a World War II-era Fuller Brush salesman from Davenport, Iowa. Johnson's poetry has appeared in a variety of journals and anthologies, including Best American Poetry 2007, The Iowa Review, The Boston Review, American Letters & Commentary, and I Have My Own Song for It: Modern Poems of Ohio. He is the founding executive director of 826 Boston, a youth writing center, which is part of the national network founded by writer Dave Eggers and educator Ninive Calegari. He was named the executive director of Mass Poetry in 2018. Johnson lives with his wife and children in Boston.