Radio Wolinsky

Julie Powell (1973-2022), “Cleaving” and “Julie & Julia,” 2009

Julie Powell (1973-2022) was the best-selling author of  “Julie & Julia,” which was based on her blog posts in which she duplicated all of Julia Child’s recipes in the classic Mastering the Art of French Cooking. She was interviewed by Richard Wolinsky on December 16, 2009 while she was on tour for her second (and it turned out, her last) book, Cleaving: A Story of Marriage, Meat and Obsession.

Julie Powell died of cardiac arrest on October 26, 2022 at the age of 49. Shortly before her death, she began writing a series of articles about food for Salon. Julie & Julia became a hit Nora Ephron film with Meryl Streep and Amy Adams. Cleaving is the story of how she learned to be a butcher, intertwined with the story of the challenges in her marriage.