Dr Melissa Ashley is the award-winning and best-selling author of the historical fiction novels The Naturalist of Amsterdam, The Bee and the Orange Tree and The Birdman’s Wife.
The Birdman’s Wife (Affirm Press 2016) won the 2017 Australian Booksellers’ Association and Nielsen Bookscan Booksellers’ Choice Award and the 2017 Queensland Premier’s Award/University of Queensland Fiction Award. It was shortlisted for the Courier Mail’s People’s Choice Award, 2017; the Australian Book Industry Awards, 2017; the Australian Book Designers’ Association Awards; and the Australian Independent Booksellers Award.
The Bee and the Orange Tree was shortlisted for the Davitt Award Best Debut Crime Book, 2020.
Melissa has published one collection of poetry, The Hospital for Dolls (PostPressed 2003) and her writing has been published and featured in interviews, articles, poems, essays, short stories and reviews in a variety of media. She has participated in writers’ festivals and academic conferences as a presenter, panellist and host.
Melissa has a PhD and an MPhil in Creative Writing and a first-class honours degree in Literature from the University of Queensland (UQ). Melissa’s writing and academic research has been supported and recognised by a commendation from UQ Dean of Studies for outstanding academic achievement in the field of literature; an APA scholarship and University of Queensland Scholarship for her MPhil and PhD research; fellowships, travel and writing grants from Arts Queensland, Australia Council, State Library of Queensland, Queensland Writers Centre and others.
Melissa teaches writing courses in private and educational settings and lives in Brisbane with her family.
Available during the Festival
