Melissa Ashley (born 1973) is an Australian novelist. In the 2017 Queensland Literary Awards, her novel The Birdman's Wife won the University of Queensland Fiction Book Award.^[1] It also received the Australian Booksellers Association Nielsen BookData 2017 Booksellers Choice Award.^[2]

Biography

Ashley was born 1973 in Christchurch, New Zealand^[3] and arrived in Australia aged eight. Ashley has two children and is a self-confessed committed "twitcher".^[4]

Ashley's interest in birds motivated her 2016 historical novel The Birdman's Wife, about Elizabeth Gould who illustrated and drew specimens of birds for her husband John Gould's various books on birds.^[4] Ashley wrote the novel as part of her PhD whilst studying at the University of Queensland.^[5]

The Bee and the Orange Tree was shortlisted for the 2020 Davitt Award for best debut crime book.^[6]

At the 2022 Queensland Literary Awards, Ashley was awarded a Queensland Writers Fellowship valued at $15,000.^[7]

Works

• Cvetkovic, Lidija; Johnson, Ruth; Ashley, Melissa, 1973- (1996), Desire In Difference, Hetaira Press, ISBN 978-0-646-29022-5((citation)): CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
• Ashley, Melissa (2003), The Hospital For Dolls, Post Pressed, ISBN 978-1-876682-50-7
• Ashley, Melissa Jane (2009), The Girl Without Hands: Extract From The Manuscript Of A Novel. The Maiden Without Hands: From Folktale And Fairy Tale To Contemporary Novel, St. Lucia, Qld, retrieved 9 October 2017 (M.Phil Thesis)
• Ashley, Melissa Jane (2016), The Birdman's Wife, South Melbourne, VIC Affirm Press, ISBN 978-1-925344-99-8
• Ashley, Melissa (2019), The Bee and the Orange Tree, South Melbourne, VIC Affirm Press, ISBN 978-1-925712-01-8