About Emma

EMMA WALTON HAMILTON is a best-selling and award-winning author, editor, stage, television and podcast writer/producer, performer and arts educator. Together with her mother, Julie Andrews, she has co-authored over thirty books for children and adults, nine of which have been on the New York Times best-seller list, including The Very Fairy Princess series (#1 NY Times Bestseller), Julie Andrews’ Collection Of Poems, Songs And Lullabies; Julie Andrews' Treasury: Poems and Songs to Celebrate the Seasons; the Dumpy The Dump Truck series; Simeon’s Gift; The Great American Mousical; THANKS TO YOU – Wisdom From Mother And Child (#1 New York Times Bestseller), and Andrews' second memoir, Home Work: A Memoir of My Hollywood Years.

A Bridport Prize-winning poet, Emma recently published a poetry collection entitled Door to Door (Andrews McMeel Publishing). Her book for parents and caregivers, Raising Bookworms: Getting Kids Reading for Pleasure and Empowerment, premiered as a #1 best-seller on Amazon.com in the literacy category and won a Parent's Choice Gold Medal, silver medals from the Living Now and IPPY Book Awards, and an Honorable Mention from ForeWord Magazine’s Best Book of the Year.

Emma was a two-time Emmy Award nominee for her role as Executive Producer and Writer for Julie's Greenroom, a children's television program about the performing arts created for Netflix, starring Julie Andrews and co-produced by the Jim Henson Company. She is also a Grammy Award-winning voice-over artist, having provided voicing for numerous audiobooks, including Gitty Daneshvari’s School of Fear, Patrick McDonnell’s Me…Jane, Nancy Tafuri’s All Kinds of Kisses, Julie Andrews’ Collection of Poems, Songs and Lullabies (2010 Grammy Award, Best Spoken Word Album for Children), and Julie Andrews Treasury for All Seasons: Poems and Songs to Celebrate the Year, in addition to numerous radio, television, theater and industrial spots. She and her mother co-host and co-produce Julie's Library, a story-time podcast for family audiences produced by American Public Media. Emma also serves as Editorial Director for The Julie Andrews Collection publishing program, dedicated to quality books for young readers that nurture the imagination and celebrate a sense of wonder.

Other mediums Emma has written for include song lyrics and stage and symphonic adaptions of her children's books. A symphonic adaptation of Simeon’s Gift was developed at Bay Street Theatre and went on tour to the Hollywood Bowl, Atlanta Symphony and the O2 Arena in the UK, among other venues, under the banner of Julie Andrews’ Gift of Music. Julie and Emma's middle grade novel, The Great American Mousical, was adapted into a family musical and produced by Goodspeed Musicals at the Norma Terris Theatre in East Haddam, Connecticut. Emma's song lyrics have been recorded by Laughing Pizza, and her poetry has been published for STAAR - the State of Texas' Assessments of Academic Readiness, in the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators' (SCBWI) Bulletin, in both anthologies published in the Julie Andrews Collection and in the 2021 Bridport Prize Anthology.

Since 2008, Emma has been a faculty member for Stony Brook University's MFA in Creative Writing and Literature Program, where she teaches children's literature courses and serves as Director of the Children's Literature Fellows program as well as the annual Southampton Children’s Literature Conference. She is also Executive Director of their Young Artists and Writers Project (YAWP), an inter-disciplinary writing and creative arts program for middle and high school students on Long Island.

Independently, Emma offers home-study courses and other products and resources for writers at her website, EmmaWaltonHamilton.com. She is also the co-creator of Picture Book Summit, the world-class, annual online conference for picture book writers, and The Complete Picture Book Submissions System.

Prior to becoming a published author, Emma worked as an actress in theater, film and television, and as a theatrical director and producer. She is a longtime member of Ensemble Studio Theatre and was a faculty member at their Institute for several years. In 1991, she co-founded the Bay Street Theatre in Sag Harbor, New York with her husband, Stephen Hamilton and producer Sybil Christopher. Emma served as Bay Street’s Co-Artistic Director and Director of Education and Programming for Young Audiences for 17 years.

An accomplished public speaker, Emma addresses conferences, schools, universities and other groups on a regular basis about the value of, and synergy between, the arts and literacy.

Emma is a member of the Writer's Guild of America, the Author’s Guild, The Dramatists’ Guild, The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, the International Reading Association, SAG, AEA, AFTRA and ASCAP. She is on of the Board of Advisors of the Sag Harbor Cinema, and has served on the theater panel for the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), as a National Ambassador for The Broadway League’s “Kids’ Night on Broadway”, and as a trustee for the Morriss Center School in Bridgehampton, NY, the Center for Therapeutic Riding of the East End (CTREE) and most recently the Sag Harbor Partnership, dedicated to the preservation and enhancement of the quality of life in Sag Harbor, NY.

Emma pursued her undergraduate degree in theater at Brown University, and received her MFA in Creative Writing and Literature from Stony Brook University. She lives in Sag Harbor, NY, with her husband, director/actor/acting coach Steve Hamilton, and their two children, Sam and Hope.

Follow Emma on Social Media:

Facebook: @EmmaWaltonHamiltonAuthor, and @JulieAndrewsCollection

Twitter: @ewhamilton

Instagram: @ewhamilton 

EMMA WALTON HAMILTON is a best-selling and award-winning author, editor, stage, television and podcast writer/producer and arts educator.

Together with her mother, Julie Andrews, she has co-authored over thirty books for children and adults, nine of which have been on the New York Times best-seller list, including The Very Fairy Princess series (#1 NY Times Bestseller) and most recently, Andrews' second memoir, Home Work: A Memoir of My Hollywood Years. A Bridport Prize-winning poet, Emma recently published a poetry collection entitled Door to Door (Andrews McMeel Publishing) and her book for parents and caregivers, Raising Bookworms: Getting Kids Reading for Pleasure and Empowerment, premiered as a #1 best-seller on Amazon.com in the literacy category and won a Parent's Choice Gold Medal.

Emma was a two-time Emmy Award nominee for her role as Executive Producer and Writer for Julie's Greenroom, a children's television program about the performing arts created for Netflix, starring Julie Andrews and co-produced by the Jim Henson Company. Emma is also a Grammy Award-winning voice-over artist, having provided voicing for numerous audiobooks, including Julie Andrews’ Collection of Poems, Songs and Lullabies (2010 Grammy Award, Best Spoken Word Album for Children), as well as numerous radio, television, theater and industrial spots. Currently, she and her mother co-host and co-produce Julie's Library, a story-time podcast for family audiences produced by American Public Media.

A faculty member for Stony Brook University’s MFA in Creative Writing and Literature, Emma teaches all forms of children’s book writing and serves as Director of their Children’s Literature Fellows program and annual Children’s Literature Conference, as well as Executive Director of the Young Artists and Writers Project (YAWP), an interdisciplinary writing program for middle and high school students.  A former actress and theatre director, Emma was a co-founder of Bay Street Theatre in Sag Harbor, where she served as co-Artistic Director and Director of Education and Programming for Young Audiences for 17 years.

Independently, Emma offers home-study courses and other products and resources for writers at her website, EmmaWaltonHamilton.com. She is also the co-creator of Picture Book Summit, the world-class, annual online conference for picture book writers, and The Complete Picture Book Submissions System. An accomplished public speaker, she regularly addresses conferences, schools, universities and other groups about the value of, and synergy between, the arts and literacy.

EMMA WALTON HAMILTON is a Grammy Award-winning voice-over artist, having provided voicing for numerous audiobooks, including Gitty Daneshvari’s School of Fear, Patrick McDonnell’s Me…Jane, Nancy Tafuri’s All Kinds of Kisses, Julie Andrews’ Collection of Poems, Songs and Lullabies (2010 Grammy Award, Best Spoken Word Album for Children), and Julie Andrews Treasury for All Seasons: Poems and Songs to Celebrate the Year, in addition to numerous radio, television, theater and industrial spots. She and her mother co-host and co-produce Julie's Library, a story-time podcast for family audiences produced by American Public Media.