Julia Cameron
Julia Cameron is an American author, artist, poet, playwright, novelist, filmmaker, composer, and teacher whose 1992 book The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity is one of the most widely used creativity recovery programs in the world, with sales of more than five million copies and a devoted community of practitioners who have been following its twelve-week program for more than three decades. Born on March 4, 1948, in Libertyville, Illinois, Cameron studied at Georgetown University and built an early career in journalism and film before the drinking that characterized her twenties ended and she turned toward the work of creative recovery.
The Artist’s Way introduces two core practices — the “Morning Pages,” three longhand pages of stream-of-consciousness writing done first thing each morning, and the “Artist’s Date,” a weekly solo expedition to nourish creative curiosity — within a twelve-week course structured around themes including safety, identity, power, integrity, and possibility. The book has spawned a global community of “creative recovery” practitioners and has been translated into dozens of languages. It remains in print and actively used despite having been published more than thirty years ago.
Cameron has written more than forty books, including The Vein of Gold (1996), Walking in This World (2002), Finding Water (2009), and The Artist’s Way Morning Pages Journal, as well as poetry collections, plays, and novels. She has collaborated on Broadway productions and composed music.
Her work has helped millions of people — artists and non-artists alike — reconnect with their creative selves after years of suppression, criticism, or neglect. She continues to teach workshops and write from her home in Los Angeles, and The Artist’s Way remains one of the most transformative self-help books ever written.
