Julia Hisoo Riew

Biography

is a composer-lyricist, librettist, songwriter, and a New York Times bestselling novelist.

She has written seven musicals, including viral hit Dive, a reimagining of the Korean folktale Shimcheong, which is being developed for the American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) with Tony-Award winning director Diane Paulus. Other theater work includes ENDLESS (dir. by Zi Alikhan), Protege (commissioned by The Library Company in Seoul), and TYA musicals Thumbelina: A Little Musical (A.R.T.), Jack and the Beanstalk (A.R.T.), and Alice’s Wonderland (w/ J. Quinton Johnson, The Coterie Theater). Theater accolades include: 18th Annual Fred Ebb Award, Playbill’s Featured Songwriter of the Month, 4th Annual Woman to Watch on Broadway List, Princess Grace Award Honoraria, and the Inaugural Harvardwood Artist Launch Fellowship.

Julia’s literary work includes the Instant New York Times Bestselling YA fantasy novel The Last Tiger (Penguin Random House), co-written with her brother Brad, and MG fantasy Shim Jung Takes the Dive (HarperCollins). Upcoming: YA sci-fi comedy Free Wilma (Penguin, 2027).

Julia’s work has been performed at the American Repertory Theater, South Coast Repertory, Joe’s Pub at The Public Theater, 54 Below, Greenroom 42, Summerstock Austin Texas, The Coterie in Kansas City, Harvard University’s Farkas Hall and Agassiz Theater, AMAS Musical Theater, The UNC-Greensboro School of Theater, Nora Theater Company at Central Square Theater, Cipriani Wall Street, The Harvard Art Lab, University of Missouri, The Community Music School of Webster University, John Burroughs High School, and many more.

Julia graduated magna cum laude and a member of Phi Beta Kappa from Harvard University in May 2022. There, Julia co-founded the Harvard College Asian Student Arts Project (ASAP), a club to provide the resources and community for Asian student artists. She co-wrote their first production, a musical called The East Side and later performed as “Paulette” in ASAP’s all-Asian production of Legally Blonde: The Musical, which received national recognition in fall 2021.