Melina Marchetta lives in Sydney and writes full time.

Her first novel, Looking for Alibrandi, was released in 1992 to much acclaim, with a first print-run sellout within two months of its release.

Published in 14 countries, including 11 translated editions, it swept the pool of literary awards for young adult fiction in 1993, including the coveted Children's Book Council of Australia (CBCA) Book of the Year Award (Older Readers).

Dubbed "the most stolen library book", the popular novel was followed by her film adaptation of the same title released in 2000.While writing the AFI award-winning screenplay, Melina taught English and History full time, for ten consecutive years, at a city high school for boys.

During that time she released her second novel, Saving Francesca, in 2003, followed by On the Jellicoe Road in 2006. Both novels have been published in more than 6 countries, with Saving Francesca translated into 4 languages.

Her current novel - the fantasy epic, Finnikin of the Rock - was recently released by Penguin Australia in October 2008.

Melina has also written reviews and opinion pieces for The Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian and The Australian Literary Review, and has been a writer-in-residence around the country, as far north as Thursday Island and as far south as Hobart.

She is currently working on her fifth novel, The Piper’s Son.

Josie has a lot to deal with. She's 17, doing the dreaded H.S.C and the boy of her dreams seems totally out of reach. Oh, and she's about to meet her father for the first time...