I am an editor and writer working in lifestyle publishing and specializing in food and drink. My passion for bar culture started early on in life, no doubt as a direct result of discovering Advocaat Snowballs in Marbella piano clubs with my parents in the early 80s... since then I have sampled many good (and bad) drinks on my worldwide escapades including negronis in Naples, brandy in Barcelona, pisco in Macchu Picchu, mescal in Mexico City, beer in Beijing and even Desi Daru in Delhi (though the 'gin' I bought from a shop built from Meccano at a tiger sanctuary in Rajasthan remains the most vivid memory from that trip...) I began my publishing career with a temp job at The Lady, then in the Sales department at Michael Joseph (Penguin Books) in the late 1980s, subsequently working on the features desk of the Sunday Express 'S' magazine, at BBC Worldwide and then Time Warner Books (Little Brown) for over a decade, among other places. I have worked with a host of high-profile authors over the years, most notably Linda McCartney (as editor of her ground-breaking vegetarian cookbooks), and also with leading wine broadcaster Oz Clarke. In recent years I have had the honour of working with Tristan Stephenson on all the books in his 'Curious Bartender' series, including the bestselling debut The Curious Bartender: The Artistry & Alchemy of Creating the Perfect Cocktail, which was shortlisted for the André Simon Award. I have written two cocktail books Rosé Cocktails (2017 RPS) and Short Cocktails & Small Bites (2019 RPS) as well as been credited as the compiler of numerous best-selling recipe collections for RPS, most recently The Flexitarian Cookbook, for which I developed 100+ variations of existing recipes. As an independent publisher I am free to commission and work with authors who I admire for their experience and professionalism and have had the honour of working to create books with GFW members Orlando Murrin, Bronte Aurell, Ursula Ferrigno, María José Sevilla, Jenny Linford, Fran Warde, Da-Ha West, Suzy Delta and many (many) more. I live and work in London but am a frequent visitor to both Spain (where I have close family) and the Greek Island of Antiparos (where I have delicious cocktails...).
Julia Charles
Professions
Author, Consultant, Editor/editorial work, Recipe writer, Wine/drinks writer
Special subjects
Recipe editing and writing, cocktails, party bites, healthy pescatarian/flexitarian food, Italian, Spanish and Greek cuisines. Author/Editor/Copywriter/Book Structure Consultant/Recipe Developer/Americanizer/Cocktail Enthusiast
Regular work
Currently Editorial Director at Ryland, Peters & Small but with specific responsibility for the food and drink publishing. Work includes curating recipe collections and editing/ghostwriting new recipe books (including most recently an own-brand book for M&S).
