Then his mother came to him, looked at him full of gladness, and said: I suppose I'd had enough of writing for adults - first as a journalist, then as a student of English and women's studies.One afternoon the Christ-child had laid himself in his cradle-bed and had fallen asleep. Why did you decide to write children's books rather than books for adults? And that was great fun, for a long time, although when it came to making things up, there was only so far I could go! I still wanted to write when I left school so I became a journalist. My teenage diaries are shocking, but a pack of lies from start to finish. I wrote diaries too - pages and pages every day - and if nothing exciting had happened I made stuff up. When I was five I wrote stories about elves and rabbits on scraps of paper and sewed them up the middle to make little books.

Julie lives in Oxfordshire where she writes full time (most mornings anyway) in a pink and green office in her garden.Įver since I can remember. She went on to complete a Masters Degree in Women's Studies at Oxford University, where an idea for her thesis became the inspiration for her first novel, Follow Me Down. After her daughter, Tilly, was born she began a degree in Education but switched to English after suffering a panic attack while attempting to teach maths to year six.

Julie Hearn used to be a tabloid journalist but much prefers writing novels because she is less likely to be sued nowadays for making things up. Click here to see the books she selected. Julie Hearn was our Guest Editor in August 2011.

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The year’s outstanding debut authors for children: shortlist for the 2023 Branford Boase Award announced.

Jacqueline Wilson - our Guest Editor of the Month.

Hazel by julie hearn