Melinda Salisbury
Novelist, Children's writer
About
Melinda Salisbury is the author of more than a dozen books for young adults, with a focus on speculative coming-of-age stories featuring isolated characters in isolated places. Her debut novel, The Sin Eater’s Daughter, about a girl whose touch can kill, was shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Book prize and was the bestselling UK young adult debut of 2015. She is especially interested in exploring stories that feature outsiders seeking their place in the world and the idea that you can’t ever really go home. She’s also fascinated by the fabric of small communities and the dynamics at play in them.
Since 2020 Melinda Salisbury has worked as a mentor with organisations such as New Writing North, Faber Academy and WriteMentor, where she works closely with writers to develop their stories and their voices. She hosts a monthly chat for WriteMentor, where participants can discuss their work and field wider publishing queries. Melinda Salisbury also writes for Barrington Stoke, a children’s publisher specialising in highly accessible stories for reluctant and dyslexic readers.
Before becoming an author, Melinda Salisbury studied Performing Arts and Music Production. She lives in Hastings, where she volunteers at a local independent cinema, the Electric Palace. At some point she’d like to write a book featuring ghost hunting, to capitalise on the experience gained in her first job after finishing university. She decided to pursue becoming a writer after getting fired from a different job for writing stories at work.