Write Now With Julie Berry
Today's Write Now interview features Julie Berry, author of IF LOOKS COULD KILL.
Who are you?
I’m Julie Berry. I’m a full-time author of books. I also own an independent bookstore which is tremendous fun. Both it and I are based in western New York State in the town where I was born and raised. I returned there during Covid after 30 years away to buy, renovate, and reopen the bookstore as Author’s Note..
What do you write?
I write fiction for young readers, though my YA fiction is often considered crossover and is read by adults as well. I also write middle grade fiction and picture books for younger children. My novels range from historical to fantastical (often both) and humorous (often all three). If Looks Could Kill takes a mythological premise (Medusa is real) and applies a modern twist to it: Medusa-ness is a phenomenon that can strike girls and women, even in modern times, and the idea of her gaze instantly turning men to stone is a misreading of the ancient stories. It situates that premise in a researched historical novel–1888 in London’s East End and then Manhattan’s Lower East Side–in a way that is dark and violent and deathly serious (and romantic) and also, unexpectedly funny.
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