Julie Hearn - Children's Author

Julie Hearn was our Guest Editor in August 2011. Click here to see the books she selected.

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. 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. 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.  Julie lives in Oxfordshire where she writes full time (most mornings anyway) in a pink and green office in her garden.

Julie Hearn Q&A:

Have you always wanted to be a writer?

Ever since I can remember. 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. I wrote diaries too - pages and pages every day - and if nothing exciting had happened I made stuff up. My teenage diaries are shocking, but a pack of lies from start to finish.

I still wanted to write when I left school so I became a journalist. 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!

Why did you decide to write children's books rather than books for adults?

I suppose I'd had enough of writing for adults - first as a journalist, then as a student of English and women's studies. I wanted to give my imagination free rein in a way that didn't have to be clever, or cynical, or have a great wodge of footnotes at the bottom of every page to explain things!

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Featured Books, with extracts by Julie Hearn

Hazel
Julie Hearn
When Hazel witnesses suffragette Emily Davison stepping out in front of the king's horse she could never have imagined the impact this event would have on her own life. But this single incident would change Hazel's destiny forever. A reissue of...
Featured in: 11+ readers | eBooks
Format: Paperback - Released: 02/05/2013
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The Merrybegot
Julie Hearn
Gripping and lyrical, this is a multi-layered novel with a strong historical background of the witch hunting that took place during the English Civil War crossed with a story of the fairy world and the different kind of magic that...
Featured in: 11+ readers | eBooks
Format: Paperback - Released: 04/08/2011
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Wreckers
Julie Hearn
Brilliantly told in contrasting teenage voices, this is a powerful story set in a dystopian future in which much of what we know about is destroyed in ‘the attack’. Trespassing  in a ruined house, a group of teenagers come across...
Featured in: 11+ readers | eBooks
Format: Paperback - Released: 03/03/2011
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Rowan The Strange
Julie Hearn
Shortlisted for the CILIP Carnegie Medal 2010. A powerful and compelling story of life in a mental asylum at the start of the Second World War.  Rowan may be strange but he's not dangerous so when he is sent...
Featured in: 11+ readers | eBooks
Format: Paperback - Released: 01/04/2010
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Follow Me Down
Julie Hearn
This is a new edition of Julie Hearn's stunning debut novel that takes the reader on a dramatic trip into a strange and original world, republished to coincide with the publication of her brand new novel in hardback Rowan...
Featured in: 11+ readers | eBooks
Format: Paperback - Released: 02/04/2009
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Rowan The Strange
Julie Hearn
Shortlisted for the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize 2009 A powerful and compelling story of life in a mental asylum at the start of the Second World War.  Rowan may be strange but he's not dangerous so when he is sent behind...
Featured in: 11+ readers | Book Awards | eBooks
Format: Hardback - Released: 02/04/2009
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Hazel
Julie Hearn
Hazel’s life is changed forever on the day that she sees a woman step out in front of the King’s horse during the Epsom Derby on June 4th, 1913. Who was the woman and why did she do it? Hazel’s...
Featured in: 11+ readers | eBooks
Format: Paperback - Released: 06/09/2007
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Ivy
Julie Hearn
Rich in atmosphere and stuffed full of fascinating and unusual characters, Ivy is the story of survival. Little Ivy’s childhood has been far from straightforward. Abandoned and neglected, she’s spent years of her life luring wealthy little children...
Featured in: 11+ readers | eBooks
Format: Paperback - Released: 04/05/2006
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