MY BACKGROUND
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I’m Julia Jane Spry-Leverton, a published writer and poet. Fascinated by the myth and mystery of Venice, its sensuality as well as its gritty reality, I’m the author (under nom de plume Julia Grigg) of a facts-based historical fiction set there in 1548: The Eyes That Look – The Story of Bassano’s Hunting Dogs.
The novel, a bildungsroman, was nominated for two debut novel awards. It is described by authors Celia Brayfield as ‘A novel of many wonders’ and Maggie Gee as ‘Gorgeous, lustrous writing – a story alight with Grigg’s love of art.’
I have an MA in Creative Writing (Distinction) from Bath Spa University and a PGC in Christianity and the Visual Arts from the University of Aberdeen.
I’ve written extensively on sacred art in my 2025 blog Seek The Sacred, and on the history and contemporary design of gardens in my Morrab Miscellany of 2021.
Before transitioning to the international arena my career was as an arts, fashion and food researcher, journalist and publicist. Recruited in 1991 by UNICEF to cover children’s issues and advocacy, I reported extensively on African and Asian humanitarian emergencies. My short story Delivering the Goods drawing on my international aid experience was shortlisted for the 2020 Bridport Prize.
Now in 2026 I’m at work on a libretto for collaboration with a composer to produce a chamber opera, whose scenes range over both historical and modern Venice, its entirely original subject matter articulating a response to the beauty of the city’s music, art, architecture and gardens.