PhD Project: Together: A Case Study in Differing Views of Genre in Writing and Publishing Commercial Fiction
Supervisors: Prof Peter Robinson (Reading) and Prof Nicola Wilson (Reading)
Julie is undertaking a PhD by Published Works in Creative Writing at the University of Reading. She will be submitting her 2017 novel TOGETHER, a commercial/literary crossover relationship novel, and examining how differing understandings of genre, the market and female readers affected the composition and themes of the novel, two publishers’ receptions to it, and its publishing journey within the context of ‘women’s fiction’ being published at the same time.
She is the author of thirty published novels and an experienced teacher of creative writing. She gained her BA with Honours in English Literature at Brown University and Cambridge University. Her MPhil thesis in English Literature (University of Reading) was entitled ‘“There are fairies at the bottom of our garden!”: Fairies and the Ideal British Child, 1869-1923.’
Julie has taught creative writing for, among others, Curtis Brown Creative, the Guardian, Hachette, Jewish Book Week, and the University of Reading. She is a founder of the Romantic Novelists’ Association Rainbow Chapter for LGBTQ+ writers, a Patron of literacy charity ABC To Read, and served as a judge of the Wingate Prize. She won the 2020 Romantic Novelists’ Association Inclusion Award. Her bestselling novel TOGETHER has been translated into eleven languages, optioned for television, and won the RNA Contemporary Novel of the Year; THE TWO LIVES OF LOUIS & LOUISE was long-listed for the Polari Prize. Her first historical novel, SPIRITED, was shortlisted for the HWA Golden Crown and the RNA Goldsboro Historical Romantic Novel Award; her latest contemporary novel is PARADISE (Orion 2025). Her thriller BAD MEN was shortlisted for the Jackie Collins Romantic Thriller Award and optioned for television; her latest thriller is BODY COUNT (Bonnier 2025, as Julie Mae Cohen). Her award-winning novels have sold over a million copies worldwide and translated into seventeen languages, and she has been selected for the BBC Radio 2 Book Club and twice for the Richard and Judy Book Club.
Website: www.julie-cohen.com and www.juliemaecohen.com
Photo credit: Nicole Engelmann at Hey Tuesday