A resident of Vancouver, Julie Burtinshaw is an award-winning author of seven novels for young adults. A graduate of SFU’s Writers Studio, Julie has served as a judge for the BC Book Awards, Red Cedar Awards, Illinois Women's Press Association Communications.
Hangman: The True Story of Canada’s First Executioner (Tidewater Press, 2022) is her first non-fiction title.
Her last novel, Saying Goodbye to London was named one of the five outstanding books for children in the 2018, BC Book Prizes.
Julie has attended writer's residencies around the world, as close to home as Saltspring Island and as far away as Switzerland.
She has helped to foster a love of reading and writing to young adults and adults everywhere.
She is currently working on her first memoir.
Julie is available for readings and workshops across Canada.
Presentations involve a reading, followed by discussion and questions about the process of writing a novel, and an exploration of different genres. I like to allow the audience to choose their topics of interest through the questions they ask. My presentations are much more than just standing in front of an audience and reading.
Workshops are designed to encourage creativity through a series of engaging exercises, so that by the end of the workshop, participants leave feeling encouraged and excited about writing, and confident in sharing their work. They will also have new found knowledge about the publishing process and the craft of writing.
In this presentation, I like to weave the story of my writing career using various readings from several of my novels. It's important for teens to take pauses to ask questions, so there are discussions all the way through the presentation. I want the teens to enjoy themselves, while learning something about the craft of writing, and the joy of creativity. I hope they return to their classrooms excited about picking up a book.
