Julia Quinn

Julia Pottinger (née Cotler; born January 12, 1970), better known by her pen name, Julia Quinn, is a best-selling American author of historical romance fiction.

Her novels have been translated into 41 languages and have appeared on The New York Times Bestseller List 19 times.

She has been inducted into the Romance Writers of America Hall of Fame.

Her Bridgerton series of novels has been adapted for Netflix by Shondaland under the title Bridgerton.

Quinn was born as Julie Cotler in 1970 to Jane and Stephen Lewis Cotler.

She has three sisters: Emily, Abigail, and Ariana.

She is Jewish.

She was raised primarily in New England, although she spent much of her time in California, following the divorce of her parents.

Quinn developed an appreciation for literature at an early age, and since childhood, she thoroughly enjoyed reading.

At age 12, her father disagreed with her choices of reading material, which included the Sweet Dreams and the Sweet Valley High book series, and he told her she could only continue reading them if she could prove that they contributed to the development of her reading skills.

She promptly told him that she was studying the literary series, in order, because she was interested in writing a novel in the future.

Challenged to prove that she was, indeed, interested in pursuing a writing career, Quinn sat down at their computer and wrote her first two chapters.

After finishing her novel, three years later, she submitted it to Sweet Dreams, but it was rejected.

Quinn graduated from Hotchkiss School and Harvard University with a degree in Art History.

During her senior year of college, she realized that she did not know what she wanted to do with her degree and decided to attend medical school.

That decision required her to attend two additional years of college to complete the science prerequisites necessary to apply for medical school.

She postponed medical school for two years while she wrote two more novels.

To occupy herself during the long days of studying science, Quinn began to write light-hearted Regency novels.

A few weeks after she was accepted to medical school, she discovered that her first two novels, Splendid and Dancing At Midnight, had been sold at auction, an unusual occurrence for a novice romance author.

By the time Quinn finally entered Yale School of Medicine, intending to become a doctor, three of her books had been published.

After a few months of studying medicine, Quinn realized that she preferred writing to medical study.

She left medical school and devoted herself, full-time, to her writing.

Quinn considers herself a feminist and gives her heroines feminist qualities that are not necessarily true to the most prevalent attitudes of the times her novels are set in.

Her books are noted for their humor and sharp, witty dialogue.

The novels are primarily character-driven, lacking the great external conflicts that many romance novels employ.

One of her novels, When He Was Wicked, was unusual for a romance novel, as the first four chapters describe the heroine in a happy marriage with someone who is not the hero, and then shows the death of the original husband and deals with the grief of both the heroine and hero, before allowing the second love story to flourish.

Most of her books are dedicated to her husband, Paul Pottinger, often with references to amusing alternate titles for the work.

In 2001, Quinn won $79,000 on The Weakest Link.

She is an avid reader and posts recommendations of her favorite books on her Facebook page.

Quinn resides in Seattle, Washington, with her husband and two children.

On June 29, 2021, Quinn's sister and father, Ariana Elise Cotler and Stephen Lewis Cotler, respectively, were killed by a drunk driver in Kaysville, Utah.

All books from Splendid through First Comes Scandal are mass market paperbacks

In 2003, she enjoyed the rare honor of being profiled in Time Magazine, an accomplishment few romance novelists have achieved.

In 2005, Publishers Weekly gave To Sir Phillip, With Love a rare starred review, and later, the novel was named as one of the six best mass market original novels of the year.

Quinn won the Romance Writers of America RITA Award, in 2007, for On the Way to the Wedding and again, in 2008, for The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever.

Each of her last 17 novels have appeared on the New York Times Bestseller List, with Mr. Cavendish, I Presume hitting number one in October 2008.

When she won, in 2010, for What Happens in London, she became (at the time) the youngest member and is now one of only 16 authors to be inducted into the RWA Hall of Fame.

Most recently, The Girl With the Make-Believe Husband was on the NYT list in June 2017.

In addition to those, both her Lady Whistledown anthologies appeared on the NY Times list, as did both of her novel-in-three-part collaborations with Connie Brockway and Eloisa James (The Lady Most Likely and The Lady Most Willing), and the Bridgertons: Happily Ever After collection of Bridgerton’s second epilogues.

Her Bridgerton series of books has been adapted for Netflix by Shonda Rhimes, under the title Bridgerton.