Ben Apfelbaum

DYMOCKS LITERARY LUNCH : JULIA QUINN

Julia Quinn appeared recently at a Dymocks Literary Lunch. Most people who have not come across her name would be surprised to know that her historical romance fiction novels have been translated in to 41 languages and have appeared on the New York Times bestseller list. She has been inducted in to the Romance Writers Of America Hall Of Fame.

She has a lovely, bubbly sense of humour and seemed absolutely thrilled to be the featured speaker at the luncheon.

Her early interest in. romantic novels came about  when she was sent on an errand to the corner shop.; Whilst her shopping list was being packaged she would read the romance short stories which were at the back of monthly  Reader Digest publications.

Her father was concerned at this ‘impractical’ obsession  and tried to steer her interests into science and medical studies. At the age of twelve her father said that she could continue to read the Sweet Dreams and the Sweet Valley High books only if she could prove that she could write a romance novel herself. She relished the challenge and after writing the first two chapters of her novel she was rewarded by her father with one of the early ‘boxy’ Mac computers.

Whilst in. her senior year of college she was undecided as to what to do with her life. So she harboured in enrolling in a degree in art history and the science prerequisite to apply to medical school.

During all this time Julia was writing Regency novels. By the time Julia entered the Yale School of Medicine  fully intending to become a Doctor three of her books had been published and she realised that this was her calling and left medial studies to devote herself full time to her writing.

She was asked by her interviewer Cassie Hannah why she choose the Regency Period for her novels. She stated that fashion and social mores did not change all that much during this period, and therefore had a stable setting for her novels.

When asked which came first, the plot or the character,, she immediately replied the character, and especially if she was a strong female.

Although she has written many other series of romance books she is most famous for writing the nine books in the Bridgerton series with a tenth soon to follow.

Why these books became so famous was that, out of the blue, she was contacted by Shonda Rhimes, the acclaimed the producer  of suc hit shows as ‘Gray’s Anatomy’, ‘Private Practice’, ‘Scandal’ and ‘How To Commit A Murder’ for ABC Studios. She entered in to a contract with Netflix to produce further shoes was one of them was tyhe Bridgerton series, of which two have been screened.

Despite the fact that her novels were populated by caucasian nobility, the tv series featured some members of the aristocracy who were black and even society leaders.

Julia was absolutely delighted with the change  and approved of the Netflix series.

When asked what comes next  she indicated that she might write a novel in a different genre to her romance oeuvre.

Her popularity is such that after the literary lunch she had to attend an event an event at the Dymocks bookstore.

Julia dedicates all her books to her husband Paul  and was tasked by her children to get some Bluey paraphernalia. She gleefully showed me a tiny Bluey figurine which she placed on her books for a photograph.

What I found extraordinary was the number of fans who were carrying box sets or piles of the novels for her to sign. She happily did so and happily posed for selfies with her fans.

It is not surprising that she is so productive as she lives in Seattle, Washington which is regarded as one of the innovative cities, being the home of Boeing, Microsoft, Starbucks and Nirvana.

Published by Ben Apfelbaum

My photography began when my father handed me the proverbial brownie box camera as a child. As cameras developed I went through Fujica and Olympus range finders graduating to my first single lens reflex camera, the Minolta SRT101, the latter being the greatest facilitator to my growth as a photographer. Digital photography has only added to this. I was a regular contributor to Camera Craft magazine (Australian Camera ) for over three years. During Australia’s Bicentennial year (1988) I made it a personal project to document the celebrations. This culminated in the creation of a book of my photos which was published in 1989. The book was called CELEBRATING AUSTRALIA and came with an accompanying calendar. My works have appeared in a number of publications including the coffee book entitled MY AUSTRALIA (1989), publisher Robertsbridge Severn. This book had a preface by the then Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke. I was a co-photographer on a book entitled SYDNEY- DISCOVER THE CITY with text written by Robert Treborlang. Major Mitchell Press was the publisher. Also for two years I was the photographer for calendars celebrating Sydney’s multicultural communities. The two calendars were entitled MULTICULTURAL SYDNEY. My work appeared in a group exhibition held at Sydney’s Town Hall pertaining to the diversity of life in South America to raise money for orphanages there. I have over one hundred photos stored in the New South Wales State Library archive. I had a solo exhibition held in 2007 entitled Ben’s Lens at the Sydney Jewish Museum which celebrated the vibrancy of the Sydney Jewish community. Some of these photos are on the Museum’s permanent display. I have exhibited internationally firstly at the Spruill Gallery in Atlanta Georgia, United States, and in an exhibition entitled Kosher and Co at the Jewish Museum in Berlin. Currently I am a regular contributor to J-Wire and this esteemed publication. To celebrate the opening of a permanent Photography Gallery, the State Library of New South Wales selected 400 shots from its archive of over 2,000,000 images to display in the new gallery. An image of mine was plucked out of the multi million photo archive to be part of the inaugural exhibition.