Julia Scheeres

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Julia Scheeres (pronounced "shears"), 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. ^[1]

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." ^[2]

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," ^[3] and the Boston Globe praised it as "rough, brutal, and shockingly good."^[4]

Scheeres is presently at work on a nonfiction book about Jonestown.