Julie is  a Communications Project Manager at Carnegie Mellon University. She has a PhD from the University of Pittsburgh in Cultural and Critical Studies and a doctoral certificate in Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies; her research  focuses on comparative contemporary fiction from the global south, and the representations of the uncanny, monstrosity, and colonial violence.

Her more recent work and research centers on children’s literature and the study of childhood with a focus on experimental narrative forms, immigrants and refugees, and literature reflective of the Middle East/ North African  region and its diaspora.

A former faculty member in the English Department at the University of Pittsburgh where she received the department’s Distinguished Teaching Award, Julie has also worked extensively in publishing, journalism,  and editing. She was the former Assistant Editor of the Journal of British Studies (Cambridge University Press), and has interviewed New York Times bestselling authors for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and has  publications in the Times Literary Supplement (TLS), the Horn Book Magazine, the Horn Book‘s “Family Reading” blog, Mondoweiss, Brevity: A Journal of Concise Literary Nonfiction, The Best of Brevity, and others. She was recently a co-author and co-editor of The Horn Book Magazine‘s “Calling Caldecott” blog, and was a judge for the 2025 Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards. 

Julie is a mother of two teenagers and one sassy corgi. She is  an avid runner and  swimmer. She swims with her local Masters Swimming team and competes in  long  distance open water swimming.  If you want to reach her,  send her an email at: julie (dot) azzam (at sign) gmail (dot) com or stop by the  pool where she’s probably swimming laps!