Julia Scheeres
Encyclopedia
Julia Scheeres , is a journalist, nonfiction author and novelist. Born February 12, 1967 in Lafayette, Indiana, Scheeres received a bachelor's degree in Spanish from Calvin College
in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and a master's in journalism from the University of Southern California
. Now living and working in San Francisco, California, she has been a contributor to the New York Times, Los Angeles Times
, San Francisco Chronicle
, Wired News
and LA Weekly
. Her work has twice been a finalist for the journalism awards of the Annenberg School of Communication, and once for the IRE (Investigative Reporters and Editors) Award.
Scheeres came to prominence with the 2005 publication of Jesus Land, a memoir of her turbulent youth growing up rebellious in a strict fundamentalist Christian family, including a harrowing stint in a Christian "reform school" in the Dominican Republic. The memoir is centered on her relationship with her late adoptive brother David, of African-American ancestry (Scheeres is white), and on their shared experiences coping with both religious and racial intolerance. Scheeres has described the genesis of the book by stating, "I knew David better than anyone. From the time he was adopted at age three until he died in a car crash at age 20, we were in constant contact. We were the same age. We shared classrooms, church youth groups, even a reform school. It fell on my shoulders to keep his memory alive. This was a heavy burden."
Jesus Land was a New York Times bestseller, and a Times
bestseller in the UK (where it was published under the title Another Hour on a Sunday Morning). The trade publication Publishers Weekly
declared the book "announces the author as a writer to watch," and the Boston Globe praised it as "rough, brutal, and shockingly good." She stated in her memoir that she is no longer a Christian but a humanist
.
Scheeres is presently at work on a nonfiction book about the Jonestown mass murder-suicides.
Calvin College
Calvin College is a comprehensive liberal arts college located in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Founded in 1876, Calvin College is an educational institution of the Christian Reformed Church and stands in the Reformed tradition of Protestantism...
in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and a master's in journalism from the University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
. Now living and working in San Francisco, California, she has been a contributor to the New York Times, Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
, San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
, Wired News
Wired News
Wired News is an online technology news website, formerly known as HotWired, that split off from Wired magazine when the magazine was purchased by Condé Nast Publishing in the 1990s. Wired News was owned by Lycos not long after the split, until Condé Nast purchased Wired News on July 11, 2006...
and LA Weekly
LA Weekly
LA Weekly is a free weekly tabloid-sized "alternative weekly" in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Editor/Publisher Jay Levin and a board of directors that included actor-producer Michael Douglas...
. Her work has twice been a finalist for the journalism awards of the Annenberg School of Communication, and once for the IRE (Investigative Reporters and Editors) Award.
Scheeres came to prominence with the 2005 publication of Jesus Land, a memoir of her turbulent youth growing up rebellious in a strict fundamentalist Christian family, including a harrowing stint in a Christian "reform school" in the Dominican Republic. The memoir is centered on her relationship with her late adoptive brother David, of African-American ancestry (Scheeres is white), and on their shared experiences coping with both religious and racial intolerance. Scheeres has described the genesis of the book by stating, "I knew David better than anyone. From the time he was adopted at age three until he died in a car crash at age 20, we were in constant contact. We were the same age. We shared classrooms, church youth groups, even a reform school. It fell on my shoulders to keep his memory alive. This was a heavy burden."
Jesus Land was a New York Times bestseller, and a Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
bestseller in the UK (where it was published under the title Another Hour on a Sunday Morning). The trade publication Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly, aka PW, is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers and literary agents...
declared the book "announces the author as a writer to watch," and the Boston Globe praised it as "rough, brutal, and shockingly good." She stated in her memoir that she is no longer a Christian but a humanist
Humanism
Humanism is an approach in study, philosophy, world view or practice that focuses on human values and concerns. In philosophy and social science, humanism is a perspective which affirms some notion of human nature, and is contrasted with anti-humanism....
.
Scheeres is presently at work on a nonfiction book about the Jonestown mass murder-suicides.
Awards
- Winner, 2006 Alex award, American Library Association.
- Winner, 2006 New Visions Nonfiction Book Award, Quality Paperback Book Club.