Julia has read stories on radio and TV, narrated stories for audio book companies, run drama workshops for young people and toured schools with Theatre-in-Education productions. A thirst for adventure brought Julia and her architect husband Brian to Dubai more than 40 years ago, long before the skyscrapers and smart hotels and fancy shopping malls. Much of her inspiration for writing comes from the UAE and Oman.

 A desire to share her discoveries about the region’s fascinating past, its ancient culture and traditions, led to her first story. Published in 2003, The Pearl Diver is now read and enjoyed in Primary schools throughout the Gulf. Many more titles followed. 

 The Leopard Boy was awarded a Kirkus star in America. Michael Morpurgo called it “A beautiful story, a wise and wonderfully told tale”. 

 The Turtle Secret won the Best International Children’s Book award at the Sharjah International Book Fair 2014. 

 The Secret of The Cave won Best International Children’s Book award at the Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival 2019.

  Julia has recently attended a playwriting course run by Australian playwright Alex Broun and is now working on her first full-length play. She wrote a 10 minute “short” which was been shortlisted for “Short + Sweet” Hollywood.

 She has just finished writing a longer, darker story about the pearl divers of the Arabian Gulf for older children, which is being optioned for a film.