Melissa Ashley is the author of historical fiction novels The Bee and the Orange Tree and The Birdman’s Wife, which won the Queensland Literary Awards Fiction prize and the ABA Booksellers Choice Award. She has published a collection of poetry, The Hospital for Dolls, as well as short stories, essays and academic articles. Melissa is passionate about historical women’s forgotten lives, particularly in science. Melissa’s most recent novel is The Naturalist of Amsterdam, shortlisted for the Courier Mail People’s Choice Awards, explores the life of entomologist and artist Maria Sibylla Merian’s daughter Dorothea Graff. Melissa teaches creative writing in private and institutional settings and lives in Brisbane with her family.