Julian Sedgwick

Born and raised in an isolated village in East Kent in 1966 Julian Sedgwick resolved to become a writer at an early age. He and his brother (Marcus Sedgwick) relied on their imaginations, and each other, to entertain themselves – inspired by their father’s love and promotion of cinema, theatre and storytelling. Julian took a long detour whilst working out what and how to write – via a degree and a half at Cambridge University reading Oriental Studies and Philosophy, working as a bookseller, painter, therapist and researcher for film and TV – before moving into screenplay development and writing. His first book for children ‘Mysterium: The Black Dragon’ was published in July 2013 and won the Rotherham Children’s Book Award. The second and third instalments of the trilogy ‘The Palace of Memory’ and ‘The Wheel of Life and Death’ appeared in 2014. The Mysterium is a Mid Grade thriller, age 9+ The first fruit of collaboration with Marcus, a YA graphic novel ‘Dark Satanic Mills’ has recently been published by Walker books, and a second joint project is under way. The first book in his new supernatural thriller trilogy ‘Ghosts of Shanghai’ will be published by Hodder Children’s in July 2015. A lifelong interest in the arts and culture of China and Japan has influenced much of his work, as has his fascination with performance, street art and circus. Julian lives near Ely, Cambridgeshire, with his wife and two sons, waiting impatiently for it to get cold enough to go Fen skating.