About Julie Powell
In August 2002, a young woman named Julie Powell was approaching 30 and found herself in a less than desirable job. In an effort to regain her personal faith and fulfillment, Julie decided to embark on a year-long journey of cooking her way through all 524 recipes in Julia Child's 1961 classic tome on French cuisine, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume I. After completing each recipe, she blogged her experience to a growing community of faithful followers.
This project blog, which was witty and irreverent, became a big hit on the internet and led to the publication of her memoir about her year-long quest. The original title of the book was Julie & Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen: How One Girl Risked Her Marriage, Her Job, & Her Sanity to Master the Art of Living (Little, Brown and Company - September 28, 2005). The paperback version would be released the subsequent year with the title, Julie & Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously.
On July 1, 2009, Le Cordon Bleu International President André J. Cointreau presented Julie Powell with an honorary Le Cordon Bleu diploma for her dedication and passion in her culinary pursuits during a special ceremony at La Comédie Française in Paris.
A film adaptation, titled Julie & Julia and directed by Nora Ephron will be released in theatres August 7th. It's also based on the 2006 biography of Julia Child with nephew Alex Prud'homme - My Life in France. 2009 Academy Award Nominee Amy Adams is cast in the role of Julie Powell and Meryl Streep is cast as Julia Child.
Julie Powell's highly anticipated second book, Cleaving, will be published in December 2009.
