Phosphorescence

Julia Baird is a globally renowned author and award-winning journalist. A much-beloved broadcaster in her native Australia, Julia presents for ABC TV and writes columns for The New York Times. In 2007, she became senior editor of Newsweek in New York. Her work has earned her four Walkley Our Watch awards, a Walkley Award for team election reporting, and two further Walkley nominations. She lives near the sea with two children, a tyrannical cat and an abnormally large dog.

‘This is a book full of all that it means to be alive on this turning, burning, exquisite planet. Baird writes with a raw, transforming honesty I have never before encountered and I am the better for having experienced her truth. A necessary, timely and utterly gorgeous work.’ KERRI Ní DOCHARTAIGH, author of Thin Places‘A luminously written reminder not to deny the inevitable rough patches of life, but to acknowledge them; to look out, up and around and discover the light that exists, even in the darkest of places.'KATE SAWYER, author of The Stranding‘I loved this book. A cupped hand full of light in a darkened world. A collection of glittering curios. I’ll hold it close in trying times.’ CAL FLYN, author of Islands of Abandonment‘A moving and beautiful exploration of surviving dark and difficult times. Baird’s writing shines light on simple but important truths.’ SUE STUART-SMITH, author of The Well Gardened Mind ‘This book is a love letter to the world by a brilliant writer who nearly left it. Julia Baird has gone into the depths of human experience—her own, and others’ —and come back with this luminous and profound celebration of people and the planet. A treasure to read and re-read your whole life.’ ANNA FUNDER, bestselling author of Stasiland‘Julia Baird is an alchemist, turning the dross of her life’s harshest blows into shimmering prose.  Ravaged by a broken heart and debilitating cancer, she undertakes a careful examination of what might yet sustain her.  Both timeless and timely, this is a book of wisdom and wonder.’ GERALDINE BROOKS