Julie Powell, best-selling author of ‘Julie & Julia,’ dead at 49

Julie Powell, the meals author finest identified for her wildly well-liked memoir “Julie & Julia,” has died all of a sudden on the age of 49.

The very best-selling creator handed away at her residence in Olivebridge, New York, final Wednesday after going into cardiac arrest, in keeping with the New York Occasions. She is survived by her husband, brother and fogeys.

Powell turned a literary sensation in 2005 following the discharge of “Julie & Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Condominium Kitchen” — a humorous account of her try and re-create each recipe from Julia Little one’s traditional cookbook “Mastering the Artwork of French Cooking.”

The tome offered multiple million copies, and led to a 2009 movie adaptation directed by Nora Ephron and starring Meryl Streep. Oscar nominee Amy Adams performed Powell within the hit film, which grossed virtually $130 million on the field workplace.

“She had a lot expertise and emotional intelligence,” Powell’s editor, Judy Clain, informed the New York Occasions. The publication was the primary to report the author’s tragic dying on Tuesday.

Julie Powell, the meals author finest identified for her wildly well-liked memoir “Julie & Julia,” has died all of a sudden on the age of 49. She was performed by Amy Adams (proper) within the 2009 film adaptation of the e book.

Kelly Campbell, by way of Little, Brown

Powell is pictured in 2009, the identical yr Nora Ephron’s adaptation of her memoir was launched world wide, catapulting her to worldwide stardom.

Tamara Beckwith

Powell was born and raised in Austin, Texas, and graduated from Amherst School in 1995.

Feeling adrift and fearing she would by no means make it as an creator, Powell started running a blog in 2002, writing about her makes an attempt to cook dinner recipes from Little one’s iconic cookbook. The weblog, titled the “Julie/Julia Mission,” was picked up by Salon.com, the place it gained 1000's of devoted readers.

On the time, running a blog was nonetheless a comparatively new format, and Powell turned certainly one of its main figures, successful widespread reward for her accessible and self-deprecating fashion of writing.

“She wrote about meals in a very human voice that gave the impression of individuals I knew,” fellow meals blogger Deb Perelman informed the Occasions. “She communicated that you could possibly write about meals even with out going to culinary college, with out a lot expertise, and in a real-life kitchen.”

Adams is seen taking part in Powell in Ephron’s “Julie & Julia” adaptation.

©Columbia Photos/Courtesy Eve

The weblog served as the premise for the 2005 “Julie & Julia” e book, which in flip served as inspiration for the 2009 movie of the identical identify.

That very same yr, Powell printed her second e book, “Cleaving: a Story of Marriage, Meat and Obsession.” Regardless of receiving crucial reward, the e book didn't promote in addition to her blockbuster debut.

Powell and her husband, journal editor Eric Powell, left New York Metropolis in 2018, settling completely in Olivebridge, a tiny city within the Catskill Mountains.

Powell is pictured. She is survived by her husband, brother and fogeys.

Kelly Campbell, by way of Little, Forehead

The author’s sudden dying was met with shock on Twitter, the place 1000's of followers flocked to pay tribute.

“I bear in mind with alarming readability what it felt like to search out Julie Powell’s weblog within the mid-2000s, after I was bored and pissed off and never writing what I wished to; she made issues really feel attainable in a method I had not seen them earlier than. I’m so unhappy about this information,” one wrote.

“That is simply heartbreaking information,” one other mourned. “Comply with these desires you’re dreaming proper now.”