Skip to main content

Ms Julia Bell

Positions held:
  • Professor of New Writing, School of Creative Arts, Culture and Communication
  • Overview

    Overview

    Biography

    Julia Bell is a writer and Reader in Creative Writing at Birkbeck, London where she convenes the MA in Creative Writing and is Project Director of the website MIROnline. She is the author of three novels, Massive, Dirty Work and most recently The Dark Light all published by Macmillan, the co-editor of the Creative Writing Coursebook (Macmillan) re-issued and updated in 2018.

    Her essays and short stories have appeared in the TLS, The White Review, The Paris Review and have been broadcast on the BBC. Her essay-length book Radical Attention was published by Peninsula Press in 2021 and her most recent book Hymnal is a memoir in verse, published by Parthian in 2023.

    You can read some of her work online at her website www.juliabell.net

    ORCID

    0009-0000-9824-3446

  • Supervision and teaching

    Supervision and teaching

    Supervision

    Supervisions within Birkbeck:
    10

    Julia welcomes applications for PhD study from students who are committed to producing a body of prose-based creative work in conjunction with academic supervisors from English & Humanities. If you are interested in making an application please contact her in the first instance with your proposal.

    Current doctoral researchers

    • PAUL MARTIN
      Nature of supervision:
      JOINT PRINCIPAL SUPERVISOR,
      Description:
      Place holder
    • MATTHEW BATES
      Nature of supervision:
      JOINT PRINCIPAL SUPERVISOR,
      Title of thesis:
      Writing Chemsex: Unlocking the syndetic of a gay male subculture
      Description:
      Place holder
    • BEDIYE TOPAL
      Nature of supervision:
      JOINT PRINCIPAL SUPERVISOR,
      Description:
      Place holder

    Doctoral alumni since 2013-14

    • KEITH JARRETT
      Nature of supervision:
      Joint Principal Supervisor,
      Description:
      Place holder
      Awarded:
      2021
    • LILY DUNN
      Nature of supervision:
      Joint Principal Supervisor
      Description:
      Place holder
      Awarded:
      2023
    • CHARLOTTE NORTHALL
      Nature of supervision:
      Principal Supervisor, to
      Description:
      Place holder
      Awarded:
      2025
    • CHARLOTTE NORTHALL
      Nature of supervision:
      Joint Principal Supervisor,
      Description:
      Place holder
      Awarded:
      2025
    • CHARLOTTE NORTHALL
      Nature of supervision:
      Joint Principal Supervisor, to
      Description:
      Place holder
      Awarded:
      2025
    • MELANIE JONES
      Nature of supervision:
      Joint Principal Supervisor,
      Description:
      Place holder
      Awarded:
      2025
    • GOLNOOSH NOURPANAH
      Nature of supervision:
      Joint Principal Supervisor
      Description:
      Place holder
      Awarded:
      2019

    Teaching

    Teaching modules

    • Creative Non-Fiction
    • Writing Workshop
    • Creative Writing Summer Term Lecture Series
    • Writing and Reading Seminar
    • Storytelling: Narrative Archetypes, Forms and Techniques
  • Publications

    Publications

    Article

    Book

    • Bell, Julia (2023) Hymnal. Parthian. ISBN 9781914595110.
    • Bell, Julia (2020) Radical attention. Peninsula Press. ISBN 9781999922375.
    • Bell, Julia (2015) The dark light. Basingstoke, UK: Pan Macmillan. ISBN 9781447283034.
    • Bell, Julia (2015) Massive. Basingstoke, UK: Pan Macmillan. ISBN 9781447290353.
    • Bell, Julia (2015) Dirty work. Basingstoke, UK: Pan Macmillan. ISBN 9781447290360.

    Book section

    • Bell, Julia (2019) Fear in your water. In: Page, R. (ed.) Resist: Stories of Uprising. Comma Press. ISBN 9781912697076.

    Other

    • Bell, Julia (2019) Fairy. London, UK: BBC Radio 4.