Julia Baird

Julia Baird is an author and award-winning journalist, and cohost of the Not Stupid podcast with Jeremy Fernandez. She writes columns for the Sydney Morning Herald, the Age, and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Her first book, Media Tarts, which was re-released in 2021, was based on her history PhD about the portrayal of female politicians. After moving to the United States to take up a fellowship at the Harvard Kennedy School, she became a columnist and senior editor at Newsweek. She was then made an oped contributor at the New York Times. Julia's biography of Queen Victoria was one of the New York Times’ top ten books of 2016. Her book, Phosphorescence: On awe, wonder and the things that sustain you when the world goes dark, won several awards including the ABIA Book of the Year. Her most recent best-selling book is Bright Shining: How Grace Changes Everything. Her two-year investigation into domestic violence in religious communities earned her four Walkley Our Watch awards, including the gold, and a Walkley award nomination. She lives near the sea with two children, and an abnormally large dog.