Julie Powell, ‘Julie & Julia’ Food Writer, Dies at 49

Julie Powell, notable food writer known for cooking over 500 of Julia Child's recipes over a year and creating the popular blog the Julie/Julia Project, which inspired the 2009 movie "Julie & Julia," has died, her publisher confirmed. She was 49.

Eric Powell, her husband, said she died of cardiac arrest on Wednesday, Oct. 26 in her home in Olivebridge, New York, according to the New York Times.

Judy Clain, editor-in-chief of Little Brown and Powell's editor, shared the following statement with TODAY Food via email:

JULIE AND JULIA became an instant classic and it is with gratitude for her unique voice that we will now remember Julie’s dazzling brilliance and originality. We mourn her loss with her husband Eric and her family. We are sending our deepest condolences to all who knew and loved Julie, whether personally or through the deep connections she forged with readers of her memoirs. She was a brilliant writer and a daring, original person and she will not be forgotten.

Garnering increasing online attention, her blog, which followed her cooking from Julia Child’s "Mastering the Art of French Cooking," inspired the 2009 film "Julie and Julia," starring Meryl Streep and Amy Adams and directed by Nora Ephron.

Also inspired by the Julie/Julia Project, Powell wrote her first book, "Julie & Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen," in 2005. In 2009, she published her second read, "Cleaving: a Story of Marriage, Meat, and Obsession."

Powell was born in Austin, Texas and graduated from Amherst College in Massachusetts in 1995 with a Bachelor's degree in both theater and dance and fiction writing.

Amherst noted that Powell has received several awards for her writing over the years, which has appeared in publications like Bon Appétit, the New York Times, House Beautiful, Food and Wine, the Washington Post and the Boston Globe, among others.

Some of her most distinguished awards include two James Beard awards, a first annual Lulu Blooker Award, a 2006 Quill Book Award for Debut Author and an honorary diploma from the Cordon Bleu, the same school Child attended in 1950.

After graduating from college, Powell moved to New York City where she worked as a temp before making headlines with her best-selling book. In 2009, when the movie came out, she joined NBC News' Lester Holt for an interview on TODAY.

"I always used cooking as a sort of comfort and Julia Child's cookbook had been with me since I was a small child, and so when I was looking for something to do to challenge myself and sort of give my life some purpose, Julia's book spoke to me," she said at the time.

Admitting she's an "OK cook," Powell joked to Holt that she's more "avid" than she is "expert" in the kitchen. "I like to cook. I cook all the time."

Powell is survived by her husband, brother and parents.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com