Julia Webb-Harvey is a writer with a writing practice embedded in place. After earning a distinction for her MA in Professional Writing at Falmouth University (2018), she has taken the mantel to pursue a Creative Writing PhD at Falmouth, Exploring J M W Turner’s Cornwall. Her theoretical contexts are: Psychogeography, Emotional Geography, Art History (Romanticism) and Affect Theory – all with a ‘female gaze’.

Julia is a regular contributor to the crowd-writing organisation 26. The projects she has been involved with are: 26 Trees, 26 Wild, 26 Habitats, and a chapter writer for a book celebrating 25 years of the incredible charity Fine Cell Work.

Julia is a volunteer researcher-writer with Museum of Cornish Life. She has initiated two projects for the Museum. Through a Lockdown Lens took objects from the museum’s collection and examined how they might be viewed as objects from social history in the future. Of course the most popular feature was a toilet roll! Under the Eaves was inspired by issues raised in the Citizen Curator programme, in decolonizing museum collections. Julia wanted to show that objects in the museum often have hidden histories and stories. This project received wide acclaim, and Julia was invited to contribute to Museum Association guidance on decolonising practice as a result of this work.

During the MA, Julia worked projects with the University and The National Maritime Museum Cornwall for Fathom, the journal of the museum. She was a regular contributor Falmouth University’s Falwriting site. Her final MA project was a narrative non-fiction examining creativity inspired by the Cornish coastline.

Julia is a past winner of The Cruising Association’s Lacey Trophy for her sailing blog, whinchatter.com. She has also been ‘highly commended’ in Sherbourne Literary Festival’s short story competition, and also short-listed in the Deddington Writing Competition. She is also a winner in her local Mylor Magazine writing competition.

In 2010 following a three-year project with charity, Mosac, she wrote and published Hurt: the harrowing stories of parents/carers whose children were sexually abused. Written pre-Savile watershed, the topic was a great social taboo at the time. Of course it was an unattractive proposition to publishers, but determined to see it in print, Julia published via a  self-assisted publication deal with LiveIt Publishing (no longer trading). Hurt was highly rated within its professional contexts. All proceeds of the sale of the book go to Mosac.

Julia qualified as a Chartered Accountant and worked in Corporate Land for 16 years. She went on a career break, and never went back, instead re-training as a psychotherapist. In her therapeutic work, she worked with women who suffered domestic abuse, with young children as a Play Therapist, and with families of children who have been sexually abused.

Julia lives in Falmouth, Cornwall and can be found:

On the land, walking with her husband, Pete and dog, Bessie.

On the sea, in a sailing boat, a motor boat or in a gig.

At her desk, writing.