Writer & Editor
Julie Wittes Schlack
Julie Wittes Schlack is a writer and editor of both fiction and nonfiction.
The Latest
News, readings & what’s next
-
Whistlebrook
Whistlebrook — coming December 2026
January 12, 2027 Belmont Books, Belmont, MA 7 pm
January 14, 2027 Longmeadow Adult Center, Longmeadow, MA 7 pm
January 27, 2027, Broadside Books, Northampton, MA 7 pm
January 28, 2027, WOW Center, Westfield, MA 6 pm
January 30, 2027, Forbes Library, Northampton, MA 3 pm
March 11, 2027, Hudson Park Public Library, New York, NY 7 pm
June 1, 2027, Forbes Library, Northampon, MA 6 pm
“WHISTLEBROOK is a biting demonstration of literary fiction that embraces lyrical prose, moments of dark humor, and gritty utopian ideals … ” — McKenzie Lynn Tozan for IndieReader (Indie Approved and five-star review)
“Lovers of utopian thinking and historical reality will be hooked.” — Book Life (Editor’s Pick)
“Recommended for readers who enjoy witty dialogue, high ideals, and current commentary with their historical fiction. This makes for a short book club pick that will make up for its brevity with lengthy discussion.” — Open Shelf Reviews
“Julie Wittes Schlack’s “Whistlebrook” is a meticulously written novel that captures the struggle of a community to create a more just and equitable society … This book uses letters as a narrative device. They are the novel’s way of letting the past speak for itself. Without them, this would be just another novel about history. With them, it becomes about what history asks of us- to participate more in the ongoing struggle for a more just and equitable world. In “Whistlebrook,” these letters are entire chapters. They are standalones, worthy reading on their own. That gives the book a sense of immediacy that most historical fictions lack … This deliberate choice to make history tangible is precisely what sets this book above its peers.” — Historical Fiction Company
“A soundly structured novel…that displays the writer’s impressive knack for switching between nineteenth-century- and twenty-first-century voices with ease.” — Kirkus Reviews
Stay in touch
Join the email list
If you’d like to receive the occasional email from Julie about new readings and publications, add your email below.
About
Julie Wittes Schlack is a writer and editor of both fiction and nonfiction.
Kirkus Review gave her linked essay collection, This All-at-Onceness, a starred review and named it one of the Best Indie Books of the year, and described her novel Burning and Dodging as “An astute and absorbing study of personal growth, human connection, and the nature of reality.”
Julie is a regular contributor to National Public Radio station WBUR’s widely read journal of ideas and opinions, Cognoscenti. Her short stories and essays have appeared in numerous journals, including Shenandoah, Pangyrus, Ninth Letter, The Tampa Review, and Writer’s Chronicle. She holds an MFA from Lesley University, where she also occasionally teaches memoir, book reviewing, and OpEd writing.
Julie lives with her husband in Northampton, MA, and is the grateful mother of two daughters in whose lives she never meddles.
“An astute and absorbing study of personal growth, human connection, and the nature of reality.”
— Kirkus Reviews, on Burning and Dodging
Books
Featured work
A Kirkus Review Best Indie Book of 2019
This All-at-Onceness
A vivid, personal journey through the political and cultural movements that have shaped every generation from the Baby Boomers to the Parkland kids — linked essays about idealism, engineering, and how energy travels through time.
“This All-at-Onceness is an accumulating achievement, a thought-provoking meditation on the way time changes each of us, and technology changes all of us.” — Jane Brox, author of Silence
A novel
Burning and Dodging
On the cusp of sixty, would-be artist Tina Gabler takes a position with a frail, former prime-time news anchor writing about the decline of objectivity in photojournalism — and finds herself reexamining the stories we construct about others, and ourselves.
“A vivid and moving novel by an award-winning writer working with deep reserves of insight, heart, and mind.” — James Glickman, author of Crossing Point
