Bio

Julia Oschwald Tilton is a nonfiction writer from the Midwest. She is an MFA candidate in the University of Minnesota’s Creative Writing Program, where she was a College of Liberal Arts Fellow. Julia is an oral storyteller who has performed with Ex Fabula, RISK!, and other organizations. She has experience coaching storytellers and hosting live storytelling events.

Julia received her BS in Elementary Education and Environmental Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is an educator with over a decade of experience teaching in public elementary schools, both in the US and around the globe. She currently teaches creative writing as a graduate instructor at the University of Minnesota. Her personal essays focus on the ways that grief and shame inform how we build and understand our families. Her writing has appeared or is forthcoming in Great River Review, Open Rivers Journal, and Epiphany Magazine. She has received support from Sundress Academy for the Arts, and is a recipient of the Anderson Prize for Nonfiction. She was a finalist for the 2025 Ninth Letter Literary Award and is the 2025 Prizewinner of the Epiphany Breakout! Writing Prize. Julia lives in Minneapolis with her husband and chickens, and spends most of her time cooking. She is working on a memoir about pregnancy loss, adoption, and the complexities of making a family.