Photo Credit Victoria Grazioli

I was born in the north of England, and spent my teenage years writing novels on a portable typewriter and wondering if there were any other kids out there like me. I went to Warwick University to study English Literature and Theatre Studies, before taking one of the biggest leaps of my life when I emigrated to Canada with my partner, to set up Centauri Summer Arts Camp. Our dream was to create a place where artistic kids could build a community together. Our camp was a huge success, welcoming more than 5,000 youth from 20 different countries… before COVID led to its closure in 2020.

Building arts communities and exploring the writing process… these activities continue to inspire everything I do. In 2016 I completed a Masters in Creative Writing at UBC, and around that time I published three books: a middle grade novel, a poetry collection and a book about Shakespeare.  In November 2023 I signed  a 2-book deal with Bookouture (a division of Hachette) and the first of two historical novels was published in September 2024. It’s available now in online stores as a paperback, for Kindle and as an audiobook.

These days, we still run after-school arts programs for teens through our company, Centauri Arts, and I work as a teacher and editor with dozens of writers annually, helping them to polish their manuscripts. Through our creative writing courses, English tutoring, guest workshops in schools, arts classes and camps, we’ve worked with literally thousands of young people and adults in Ontario and all over the world. One of my favourite projects is our annual creative writing retreats in Costa Rica and Mexico, when we bring together writers and travellers from all over the world for 1-2 weeks of transformative creativity.

Building communities, writing, teaching, travelling… these pursuits have inspired me for years, and they continue to be the threads that run through everything I do, to this day.

Contact Julie

email julie @ juliehartley.ca

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