Melissa Harrison

Melissa Harrison (born 1975) is an English novelist, short story and nature writer.^[1][2]

Early

Harrison was born in Effingham Junction, Surrey in 1975.^[2] She attended a comprehensive school before studying English Literature at the University of Oxford, graduating in 1996.^[1][2][3] After graduating, she worked as a freelance magazine subeditor, while contributing a regular "Nature Notes" column in The Times,^[4] columns for The Guardian and contributions to radio and television.^[5]

Literary career

Her first novel, Clay, was published by Bloomsbury in January 2013, followed by At Hawthorn Time in 2015.^[6] Her non-fiction books include Rain: Four Walks in English Weather (2016).^[7] A third novel, All Among the Barley, was published in August 2018.^[8] Her short story "The Black Dog" was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2017^[9] and she has contributed episodes to the channel's Tweet of the Day programme.^[10] She has also made appearances on the BBC Two series Springwatch.^[11] During the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown, she began a nature diary podcast called The Stubborn Light of Things which formed the basis of a new memoir published in November 2020 that outlined her move from urban London to rural Suffolk.^[12] Her first children's novel, By Ash, Oak and Thorn was published by Chicken House Books in May 2021.^[13]

Awards

Year	Title	Award	Category	Result	Ref
2015	At Hawthorn Time	Costa Book Awards	Novel	Shortlisted
2016		Bailey Women's Prize for Fiction	—	Longlisted
	Rain	Wainwright Prize	—	Longlisted
2019	All Among the Barley	European Union Prize for Literature	—	Won	[14]
2021	By Ash, Oak and Thorn	Books Are My Bag Readers' Awards	Children's	Shortlisted	[15]
	The Stubborn Light of Things	East Anglian Book Awards	Book of the Year	Won
		Independent Booksellers' Book Prize	—	Shortlisted
2022	By Rowan and Yew	Wainwright Prize	—	Shortlisted

Bibliography

Novels

• Clay (2013)
• At Hawthorn Time (2015
• All Among the Barley (2018)

Children's

• By Ash, Oak and Thorn (2021)
• By Rowan and Yew (2022)

Nature writing

• Rain: Four Walks in English Weather (2016)
• The Stubborn Light of Things: A Nature Diary (2020)

References

1. "Melissa Harrison". Rogers, Coleridge and White Ltd. Archived from the original on 7 September 2017. Retrieved 26 May 2017.
2. "Melissa Harrison". The Bookseller. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
3. House, Christian (20 January 2013). "Melissa Harrison: A walk on the wild side". The Independent. Archived from the original on 12 May 2022.
4. Kappala-Ramsamy, Gemma (23 January 2013). "Debut author: Melissa Harrison". The Guardian.
5. "Columns by Melissa Harrison". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
6. House, Christian (8 May 2015). "At Hawthorn Time by Melissa Harrison". The Daily Telegraph.(subscription required)
7. "Author: Melissa Harrison". Bloomsbury. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
8. "Melissa Harrison". The Nest Collective. Archived from the original on 7 September 2017. Retrieved 6 September 2017.
9. "The Black Dog". BBC Radio 4. 10 March 2017.
10. "Tweet of the Day - Melissa Harrison on the Tawny Owl". BBC Radio 4. 1 May 2019.
11. "Springwatch". BBC Programmes. 15 June 2016.
12. "The Stubborn Light of Things". Melissa Harrison website. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
13. Sanders, Patrick (March 2021). "By Ash, Oak and Thorn". The School Reading List. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
14. "Melissa Harrison". European Union Prize for Literature. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
15. "Books Are My Bag Readers Awards 2021 shortlist announced". Booksellers Association. 7 October 2021. Retrieved 10 June 2022.

External links

• Melissa Harrison on Goodreads
• Richard Powers and nature writing Open Book, Alex Clark interviews Richard Powers, Melissa Harrison and Jessica J Lee 12:00-27min, BBC Radio 4 podcast, 28 August 2018, accessed 2 September 2018.
• Melissa Harrison – Novelist and Nature Writer Melissa's personal website with links to her books, podcast and other work.