Last week I had the great privilege of being invited to perform as an artist at the 2017 Perth Writers’ Festival (23-26 February) to promote my first novel, The Birdman’s Wife, put into print by the incredible independent Australian publisher, Affirm Press. I have been very lucky in being invited to speak at a huge… Continue reading Writers’ Festivals: Losing my Virginity
Congratulations to Jane Harper, author of The Dry, winner of the Debut Fiction category, and the Indie Book Awards Book of the Year. Well-deserved! SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED FOR THE 2017 INDIE BOOK AWARDS January 16, 2017 Australian independent booksellers are pleased to announce the Shortlist for The Indie Book Awards 2017. The Indie Book… Continue reading The Birdman’s Wife: Shortlisted for Indie Book Awards
UQ News https://www.uq.edu.au/news/node/120210 10 February 2017 A “naïve young girl…who defied convention by embarking on a trailblazing expedition” documenting Australia’s wildlife is the subject of a book by a University of Queensland graduate. In her debut work of fiction The Birdman’s Wife, UQ School of Communications and Arts alumna Melissa Ashley has reimagined the life… Continue reading UQ graduate brings trailblazing woman out of shadows
Not long after I sold the rights for The Birdman’s Wife to Affirm Press, I was delighted to be offered a publishing contract from Wavesound, a new audiobook imprint dedicated to making Australian titles available in alternative formats to print. Wavesound is an imprint of Audible, the world’s largest publisher of audiobooks. All of Wavesound’s audiobooks are recorded locally… Continue reading Audiobooks return the pleasures of reading to the print and visually impaired
Caroline Baum Spectrum October 14, 2016 The birds came first. Melissa Ashley was a twitcher before she decided to write The Birdman’s Wife, a historical novel that brings Elizabeth Gould out of the shadow of her husband John, Australia’s most celebrated ornithologist. A New Zealander, Ashley, 43, came to Australia aged eight with her parents… Continue reading The Birdman’s Wife by Melissa Ashley: Elizabeth Gould’s forgotten talent
