Melissa Ashley (born 1973) is an Australian novelist. At the 2017

Queensland Literary Awards The Queensland Literary Awards is an awards program established in 2012 by the Queensland literary community, funded by sponsors and administered by the State Library of Queensland. Like the former Queensland Premier's Literary Awards, the QLAs ...

, her novel ''The Birdman's Wife'' won the Fiction Book Award. It also received the

Australian Booksellers Association The Australian Booksellers Association (also known as BookPeople) promotes the interests of booksellers in Australia. The association has its origins in state associations formed early in the 20th century, which later amalgamated into a federal ass ...

Nielsen BookData 2017 Booksellers Choice Award.

Biography

Ashley was born 1973 in

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

, New Zealand and arrived in Australia aged eight. Ashley has two children and is a self-confessed committed "

twitcher Birdwatching, or birding, is the observing of birds, either as a recreational activity or as a form of citizen science. A birdwatcher may observe by using their naked eye, by using a visual enhancement device such as binoculars or a telescope, ...

Career

She was the assistant director of Subverse: Queensland Poetry Festival from 1999–2001. She also coordinated The Arts Queensland Award for Unpublished Poetry. Her short stories, essays, poems, and reviews have appeared in ''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...

'', ''The Lifted Brow'', ''Australian Book Review'', ''Overland'', and ''Catamaran Literary Review''. Ashley's interest in birds motivated her 2016 historical novel, ''The Birdman's Wife'', about Elizabeth Gould, the English illustrator who drew specimens collected by her husband,

John Gould John Gould (; 14 September 1804 – 3 February 1881) was an English ornithologist who published monographs on birds, illustrated by plates produced by his wife, Elizabeth Gould (illustrator), Elizabeth Gould, and several other artists, includ ...

, for his books on birds. Ashley wrote the novel as part of her

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

, whilst studying at the

University of Queensland The University of Queensland is a Public university, public research university located primarily in Brisbane, the capital city of the Australian state of Queensland. Founded in 1909 by the Queensland parliament, UQ is one of the six sandstone ...

Awards and honours

''The Bee and the Orange Tree'' was shortlisted for the 2020

Davitt Award The Davitt Awards are literary awards which are presented annually by the Sisters in Crime Australia association. The awards are named in honour of Ellen Davitt (1812–1879) who wrote Australia's first mystery novel, ''Force and Fraud'' in 186 ...

for best debut crime book. At the 2022

, Ashley was awarded a Queensland Writers Fellowship valued at .

Works

* * * (M.Phil Thesis) * * *

References

External links

Author's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ashley, Melissa 1973 births Living people Australian women novelists Australian historical novelists