Jude Watson

Jude Watson is the pen name of American author Judy Blundell, used for her extensive work in children's and young adult media-tie-in and franchise fiction, including numerous Star Wars young-reader novels, before contributing to Rick Riordan's 39 Clues franchise. Riordan originated the multi-author series, which follows siblings uncovering secrets about their powerful ancestral family through a globe-spanning mystery, and Watson wrote several installments within the collaborative story arc alongside other contributing authors. Blundell, writing under her own name, won the National Book Award for Young People's Literature for What I Saw and How I Lied, demonstrating a literary range beyond the franchise and tie-in work published as Jude Watson. Her extensive experience writing within established fictional universes, honed through years of Star Wars franchise novels, gave her particular facility for working within the constrained, collaboratively plotted structure the 39 Clues series required. She continues to write across both her own name and the Jude Watson pen name, maintaining one of the more varied careers spanning literary young adult fiction and large-scale franchise tie-in writing.