Speakers Julia Baird

Julia Baird is a best selling author and award-winning journalist.

She hosts The Drum on ABC TV and writes columns for The New York Times, The Sydney Morning Herald and the Age; she has also written for The Washington Post, Good Weekend, The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Guardian.

Her first book, Media Tarts, 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 of Newsweek in New York.

Julia’s biography of Queen Victoria was published in several countries to critical acclaim and was one of The New York Times’ top ten books of 2016.

Her new book, Phosphorescence: On awe, wonder and the things that sustain you when the world goes dark is a number one best seller.

She lives near the sea with two children, a tyrannical cat and an abnormally large dog.