About the Author

Melissa Ashley is a writer, poet and academic who tutors in poetry and creative writing at the University of Queensland. She has published a collection of poems, The Hospital for Dolls, articles, essays and short stories. The Birdman's Wife is her first novel.As part of her research to write her PhD dissertation on Elizabeth Gould, Melissa became a taxidermy volunteer at the Queensland Museum. She's also a passionate amateur 'twitcher'.