The Sound of Gematria

Judith was born in Liverpool, lives in London and has been writing since 2009. She is the daughter of writers. Her grandson inspired her first published story when he broke her laptop keyboard. Unlike in the story, a magical creature didn’t come out of the laptop and fix her life. Her short stories, mainly speculative, have been published in the USA, Canada, UK, Australia and New Zealand. Her short story collection, The Book of Judith, was published by Rampant Loon Press in 2014. She was shortlisted for the Cinnamon Press Literature Award in 2022. Judith has had several stories published about Euphemia, the protagonist in The Sound of Gematria, and her struggle to make her mark in a Victorian man’s world. The idea for a longer work came to Judith during a synagogue service when she was reading the Bible. She came across the section about ritual impurity and wondered what would happen if this was an actual force—what might its effects be? Judith is also a pharmacist, freelance journalist, editor, medical writer, and indexer. She was awarded an MA in Creative Writing from the Open University in 2018.