Melinda writes picture books, short stories and novels for children and young adults. Born in Auckland, New Zealand, Melinda loved books from an early age and soon realised she wanted to write stories just like the ones she most liked to read. However, she didn't know any writers and thought stories were only crafted by people living far away in other countries. Melinda worked washing dishes, picking tomatoes, tending grape vines and spent a lot of time as a student studying Zoology (animals) and then English (books). After realising the world of management and administration where she'd ended up after university wasn't for her, Melinda stopped work, started a family and scribbled away on stories, practicing until she started to get them right. Writing children's fiction for the last ten or so years, she won the Children's Choice Award at the 2009 NZ Post Children's Book Awards with her picture book The Were-Nana. This book is also a Storylines Notable book for 2009 and was short listed for the 2010 Sakura Medal. She completed her first junior novel during a mentorship, with Jack the Viking being published in 2008. Melinda has several new books coming out in the near future ranging from picture books to her first teen/YA novel, psychological thriller The Half-Life of Ryan Davis. When she is not writing Melinda likes to keep fit walking and cycling and meeting friends for coffee. Hobbies include thinking, baking (especially with chocolate), going to the movies, and travelling to fun places with her family. She has three teenage children, a dog, a cat and a husband and lives in Mt Eden, Auckland, with a view of the mountain from her bedroom window. She is still a student (part time) and reading still is, and will always be, a passion.