Julia Blackburn

Julia Blackburn (born 1948) is a British author of both fiction and non-fiction. She is the daughter of poet Thomas Blackburn and artist Rosalie de Meric.^[1]

Julia Blackburn, photo by her partner, the sculptor Herman Makkink (2013)

She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2002.^[2]

Blackburn's bohemian and troubled upbringing is the subject of her memoir The Three of Us (2008).^[3]

Awards and honours

• 1996 Orange Prize, shortlist, The Book of Colour
• 1999 Orange Prize, shortlist, The Leper's Companions
• 1999 James Tait Black Memorial Prize (Best Novel), nominee, The Leper's Companions
• 2009 J. R. Ackerley Award, winner, The Three of Us^[4]
• 2011 Costa Book Awards (Biography), shortlist, Thin Paths: Journeys in and Around an Italian Mountain Village
• 2012 Dolman Best Travel Book Award, shortlist, Thin Paths: Journeys in and around an Italian Mountain Village
• 2019 Wainwright Prize, shortlist, Time Song: Searching for Doggerland^[5]

Bibliography

Novels

• The Book of Colour (1995)
• The Leper's Companions (1999)

Non-fiction

• The White Men: The First Response of Aboriginal Peoples to the White Man (1979)
• Charles Waterton, 1782–1865: Conservationist and Traveller (1991)
• Daisy Bates in the Desert: A Woman's Life Among the Aborigines (1994)
• The Emperor's Last Island: Journey to St. Helena (2000)
• Old Man Goya (2002)
• With Billie: A New Look at the Unforgettable Lady Day (2005). Vintage. ISBN 0-375-40610-7.^[6][7] – includes material from interviews conducted by Linda Lipnack Kuehl^[8][9][10]
• My Animals and Other Family (2007)
• The Three of Us: A Family Story (2008)
• Thin Paths: Journeys in and Around an Italian Mountain Village (2011)
• Threads: The Delicate Life of John Craske (2015)
• Time Song: Searching for Doggerland (2019); in the US: Time Song: Journeys in Search of a Submerged Land (2019)