Stopped Heart (Myerson)

Author Bio
• Birth—June 2, 1960
• Where—Nottingham, England, UK
• Education—B.A., University of Bristol
• Currently—llives in


Julie Myerson (nee Pike) is an English author and critic. As well as writing both fiction and non-fiction books, she is also known for having written a long-running column in the Guardian entitled "Living with Teenagers" based on her own family experiences.

Education and journalism
Myerson studied English at Bristol University before working for the National Theatre. She has written a column for the Independent about her domestic trials including her partner, the screenwriter and director Jonathan Myerson, and their children Jacob (known as Jake), Chloe, and Raphael. Since then, she has written a column for the Financial Times about homes and houses. Myerson was a regular reviewer on the UK arts program Newsnight Review, on BBC Two.

Controversies
Julie Myerson was the anonymous author of "Living with Teenagers," a Guardian column and later nonfiction book that detailed the lives of a family with three teenage children. The column was stopped after one of the children was identified and was ridiculed at school, although Myerson had previously denied being the author three times to her own children. She admitted authorship only when it became so obvious there was no other option. After the Guardian confirmed the author of the series, it removed the articles from its website to "protect their privacy."

Myerson was also at the centre of a controversy in 2009 when details of her book The Lost Child: a True Story emerged; commentators criticized Myerson for what Minette Marrin in the Sunday Times, called her "betrayal not just of love and intimacy, but also of motherhood itself." Tim Lott called the book a "moral failure," adding "Julie has betrayed Jake for her own ambition."

Some critics, however, took the opposite view. The Guardian's Mark Lawson, a friend of Julie Myerson, called the book noble, saying that "the elegance and thoughtfulness of this book—and its warning of a fate that may overtake many parents—should not be lost in the extra-literary frenzy." The Observer's Kate Kellaway called the book rash but courageous, writing that Myerson had tried to "write honestly about a nightmarish situation and a subject that never seems to get the attention it deserves." The book was published in the U.S. in August 2009.

Fiction
Sleepwalking (1994) ♦ The Touch (1996) ♦ Me and the Fat Man (1998) ♦ Laura Blundy (2000) ♦ Something Might Happen (2003) ♦ The Story of You (2006) ♦ Out of Breath (2007) ♦ Then (2011) ♦ The Quickening (2013) ♦ The Stopped Heart (2016).

Nonfiction
Home: The Story of Everyone Who Lived In Our House (2004) ♦ Not A Games Person (2005) ♦ Living with Teenagers: 3 kids, 2 parents, 1 Hell of a Bumpy Ride (2008) ♦ The Lost Child (2009).

Recognition
Something Might Happen (2003) was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize and shortlisted both the W.H. Smith Literary Award and the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. Sleepwalking (2005) was shortlisted for the John Llewellyn Rhys (Mail on Sunday) Award.
(Adapted from Wikipedia. Retrieved 4/17/2016.)