Julie Bertagna (born 1962) is a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

who has written real life and

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

novels for children and young adults. Her books have been shortlisted for several literature awards, including the Carnegie Medal. Her novel ''Exodus'' was the winner of the Lancashire County Library Children's Book of the Year Award.Children's Book of the Year Winner
, Lancashire County Library. Retrieved February 2007. ''Soundtrack'', her second novel for young adults, won a

Scottish Arts Council The Scottish Arts Council ( gd, Comhairle Ealain na h-Alba, sco, Scots Airts Cooncil) was a Scottish public body responsible for the funding, development and promotion of the arts in Scotland. The Council primarily distributed funding from the ...

Award,Julie Bertagna
, Clients, David Higham Associates. Retrieved February 2007. the second highest award ever given to a Scottish children's writer.

Biography

Bertagna was born in

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock (, sco, Kilmaurnock; gd, Cill Mheàrnaig (IPA: ʰʲɪʎˈveaːɾnəkʲ, "Marnock's church") is a large town and former burgh in East Ayrshire, Scotland and is the administrative centre of East Ayrshire, East Ayrshire Council. ...

Ayrshire Ayrshire ( gd, Siorrachd Inbhir Àir, ) is a historic county and registration county in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine and it borders the counties of Re ...

, and moved to

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

when she was seven years old. After receiving an MA Hons in English Language and Literature at the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

Official site
"About Me" section. Retrieved 20 February 2007. she worked as an editor for a small magazine. She then moved into teaching before working as a freelance journalist for various publications.Interview with Julie
Retrieved 23 February 2007. She published her first book, ''The Spark Gap'', when she was 25 years old. She currently writes full-time and lives in the West End of

with her husband Riccardo and young daughter.

Influences

Bertagna's writing often reflects her Scottish background, sometimes being set in the country. An example of this is ''The Spark Gap'', which she wrote specificallyOfficial site
"The story behind the story" section. Retrieved February 2007. to include characters like the children she was teaching in Glasgow. Other influences of her work include

global warming In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

and

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

, being major themes in her novel ''Exodus'', which took the "highly commended" award, the equivalent of second prize, at the first Eco Prize, held by the

Friends of the Earth Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) is an international network of environmental organizations in 73 countries. The organization was founded in 1969 in San Francisco by David Brower, Donald Aitken and Gary Soucie after Brower's split with ...

Scotland.Winners of Scotland's First Eco Prize for Creativity Announced
, Press Release, Friends of the Earth Scotland. Retrieved February 2007. Her first novel for Young Picador, ''Exodus'', was shortlisted for the Whitbread Award and was described by ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' as "a miracle of a novel". Her book ''The Opposite of Chocolate'' deals with issues of

teenage pregnancy Teenage pregnancy, also known as adolescent pregnancy, is pregnancy in a female adolescent or young adult under the age of 20. This includes those who are legally considered adults in their country. The WHO defines adolescence as the period bet ...

Notable works

Bertagna has written books for both

children A child ( : children) is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger ...

and young adults. Her first book was ''The Spark Gap''. Her most recent book is ''Zenith'', the sequel to ''Exodus''. Both were written for young adults.

Major works

* ''The Spark Gap'' (1996) (publisher: MacMillan Children's Books) * ''

Exodus Exodus or the Exodus may refer to: Religion * Book of Exodus, second book of the Hebrew Torah and the Christian Bible * The Exodus, the biblical story of the migration of the ancient Israelites from Egypt into Canaan Historical events * Ex ...

'' (2002) * ''Zenith'' (2007) * ''Aurora'' (2011) (publisher: Pan Macmillan)

Other works

*''The Ice Cream Machine'' (Macmillan Children's, 1998) *''Soundtrack'' (Pan Macmillan, 1999) *''Bungee Hero'' (Barrington Stoke, 1999) *''Dolphin Boy'' (Mammoth, 1999) *''Clumsy Clumps and the Baby Moon'' (Egmont Books, limited, 1999) *'"Amphibian City" (1999) (''In Phenomenal Future Stories'', edited by Tony Bradman) *''The Opposite of Chocolate'' (Young Picador, 2003) *''Ice Cream Machine Totally Fizzbombed'' (Macmillan Children's, 2004) ''Ice Cream Machine Totally Fizzbombed''
Retrieved 2019-01-31

Television series

In January 2004 a television series for children was created based on Bertagna's book ''The Ice Cream Machine''. The programme
, Ice Cream Machine. Retrieved August 2007. was produced in a co-production of

Five 5 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 5, five or number 5 may also refer to: * AD 5, the fifth year of the AD era * 5 BC, the fifth year before the AD era Literature * ''5'' (visual novel), a 2008 visual novel by Ram * ''5'' (comics), an awa ...

with SMG and the Gaelic Broadcasting Committee. It was aimed at six- to nine-year-olds and was to be broadcast in English and Gaelic.

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bertagna, Julie 1962 births Living people Scottish children's writers Alumni of the University of Glasgow Scottish science fiction writers British science fiction writers Women science fiction and fantasy writers People from Kilmarnock British writers of young adult literature Date of birth missing (living people)