About Julie
Julie Price Pinkerton was born and raised on a grain farm five miles outside the bustling metropolis of Brazil, Indiana. She’s been teaching Creative Writing (with a specialty in Trauma Writing) at the University of Illinois since 1998, except for two years she spent in Phoenix, teaching at Paradise Valley Community College and trying to survive the convection oven, windshield-cracking summer heat. She received her undergraduate degree in Advertising from the University of Evansville, and her MFA from Purdue University, where she worked on the editorial staff of the Sycamore Review.
Julie's poems and nonfiction pieces have appeared in Rattle, McSweeney's Internet Tendency, Literal Latte, Tamaqua, Fish Stories, dragonfire, Full Circle Journal, The James Dickey Review, The Timberline Review, and other journals. Her poetry has been nominated four times for the Pushcart Prize and was included in the anthology The Burden of Light: Poems on Illness and Loss, edited by Tanya Chernov. Julie’s poem, “Veins,” won the Rattle Poetry Prize, which included a cash prize of $10,000. It was selected from 15,000 entries.
Julie has received multiple teaching awards at the department, college, and university levels, including the University of Illinois College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching. She is a three-time recipient of the U of I. Campus Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching.
Before coming to the U. of I., Julie worked as managing editor of the Indianapolis New Times and later owned a (perpetually struggling) bookstore on Green Street near campus. The store was known for its occasional “20% Off All Books By Dead People” sales which were advertised with a fake full-sized skeleton sitting out front in a lawn chair. Julie also spent time in France where she wrote a monthly column about Parisian pop culture for the now-defunct Octopus. (Her cat, Hankie, accompanied her, though he preferred American cat food.)
Julie lives in Champaign with her husband, Scott. They pretty much live to binge-watch Alone and any other show about living off-grid, from the comfort of their couch. They also like to drive out into the Blair Witch-esque dark parts of Champaign to look at stars. Oh, and the beach. They love ANY beach.
Julie’s favorite quote is from her mom, who lived to be 97 and is extremely missed: “The other night when your sister and I were on our way to church, a cop flew around us like a blue-assed fly.”