Back

Melina MarchettaScreenwriter | Author

Melina Marchetta is one of Australia’s most celebrated authors of young adult fiction whose novels have been translated to, and published in, 18 different languages. She recently won the 2021 New South Wales Premier’s Literary, Special Award, recognising her contribution as a writer to the literary life of Australia.

Melina’s first novel Looking For Alibrandi was published in 1992 and adapted as a major motion picture, released in 2000 under the same name. The film received rave reviews and was a box office success, winning five awards including an IF Award for Best Screenplay and the NSW Premier’s Literary Award. The novel won the CBC Book of the Year, and was followed by other youth fiction novels including: Saving Francesca (Winner of the CBC Book of the Year), On the Jellicoe Road (Winner of the US Printz Award), Finnikin of the Rock (Winner of the ABIA Award and the Aurealis Fantasy Award) and The Piper’s Son (Shortlisted for NSW and QLD Premier’s Literary Award and the Prime Minister’s Literary Award). Melina has published several books for younger readers in her series What Zola Did, with What Zola Did on Friday to be released in 2021. Her first adult novel Tell The Truth, Shame the Devil was published in 2017 – a visceral read that captures the emotional aftermath of a mass tragedy, followed by The Place on Dalhousie in 2019.

Since Alibrandi, Melina has developed three screenplays of her novels: Saving Francesca, On the Jellicoe Road and The Place on Dalhousie, all of which are currently in development.

For a full CV please contact info@rgm.com.au.

Books

Beyond the basketball courts and classrooms of St Raph’s is a gully where everything disappears forever. Danny Griggs has heard stories about a creature that lives down there. So why does he volunteer to face the Gorgon when he’s been petrified of everything all his life?

A gentle story about overcoming fear and looking at things from all angles, from much-loved and best-selling author Melina Marchetta.

Published by Penguin [To purchase, go to Publisher]

I’m beginning to realise that things don’t turn out the way you want them to. And sometimes when they don’t, they can turn out just a little bit better.

Every so often, there comes a story so brilliant and lively and moving that it cannot be left in the past. Rediscover the magic of our country’s most memorable children’s books in the Penguin Australia Children’s Classics series of stories too precious to leave behind. One of Australia’s best loved children’s classics, Looking for Alibrandi will stay with you always.

Published by Penguin [To purchase, go to Publisher]

A bundle of all three books in The Lumatere Chronicles – Finnikin of the RockFroi of the Exilesand Quintana of Charyn. From internationally best-selling and award-winning author Melina Marchetta.

Finnikin of the Rock
Finnikin has not been home to his beloved Lumatere for ten years. Not since the dark days when the royal family was brutally murdered and the kingdom put under a terrible curse. But then he is summoned to meet Evanjalin, an enigmatic young woman who claims the heir to the throne still lives. She is determined to return home and Finnikin is affected by her arrogance . . . and her hope. He begins to believe he will see his childhood friend, Prince Balthazar, again. But the truth will test Finnikin’s faith in Evanjalin . . . and in himself.

Froi of the Exiles
Fiercely loyal to the Queen and Finnikin, Froi has finally found his home in Lumatere . . . or so he believes. But when he is sent on a dark and secretive mission to the rival kingdom of Charyn, nothing could have prepared him for what he finds in its surreal royal court. In this dangerous place he must unravel the mysteries of a half-mad princess . . . and discover the truth before it is too late.

Quintana of Charyn
Separated from the girl he loves and has sworn to protect, Froi and his companions travel through Charyn searching for Quintana and building an army that will secure her unborn child’s right to rule. While in the valley between two kingdoms, Quintana of Charyn and Isaboe of Lumatere come face-to-face in a showdown that will result in heartbreak for one and power for the other. A dramatic conclusion to Printz Award–winner Melina Marchetta’s epic fantasy trilogy.

The complete Lumatere Chronicles published by Penguin [To purchase, go to Publisher]

A brilliant novel by the best-selling author of Looking for Alibrandi. Winner of the American Library Association’s Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature in 2009.

Taylor Markham is not a popular choice. She is erratic, has no people skills and never turns up to meetings. Not to mention the incident when she ran off in search of her mother and only got halfway there. But she’s lived at Jellicoe School most of her life and as leader of the boarders that’s her greatest asset. Especially now the cadets, led by the infamous Jonah Griggs, have arrived. The territory wars between the boarders, townies and cadets are about to recommence.

But Taylor has other things on her mind: a prayer tree, the hermit who whispered in her ear, and a vaguely familiar drawing in the local police station. Taylor wants to understand the mystery of her own past. But Hannah, the woman who found her, has suddenly disappeared, leaving nothing but an unfinished manuscript about five kids whose lives entwined twenty years ago on the Jellicoe Road …

Published by Penguin [To purchase, go to Publisher]

Two years after his favourite uncle was blown to bits in a London Tube station, Tom has hit rock bottom. He’s quit uni and turned his back on his music and everyone that once mattered to him, including the girl he can’t forget. But when his flatmates turn him out of the house, Tom moves in with his single, pregnant aunt, starts working at the Union pub with his former friends, and winds up living with his grieving, alcoholic father again.

In a year when everything’s broken, Tom’s in no shape to put the pieces back together. But what if no one else is either?

From internationally bestselling and award-winning author Melina Marchetta comes a brilliant, heart-wrenching novel continuing the story of the characters from her acclaimed novel Saving Francesca.

Longlisted for the 2011 Miles Franklin Literary Award

Shortlisted for the 2011 Prime Minister’s Literary Award

Shortlisted for the 2011 New South Wales Premier’s Literary Award

Shortlisted for the 2011 Queensland Premier’s Literary Award

Shortlisted for the CBCA Book of the Year Award: Older Readers

A CBCA Notable Book

Longlisted for the 2001 Golden Inky Award

Published by Penguin [To purchase, go to Publisher]

From the bestselling author of Looking for Alibrandi comes this perfectly crafted novel about families, relationships and the true nature of belonging.

‘You look the type to break your father’s heart.’

‘Yeah, but he broke mine first.’

When Rosie Gennaro first meets Jimmy Hailler, she has walked away from life in Sydney, leavingbehind the place on Dalhousie that her father, Seb, painstakingly rebuilt for his family but never saw completed. Two years later, Rosie returns to the house and living there is Martha, whom Seb Gennaro married less than a year after the death of Rosie’s mother. Martha is struggling to fulfil Seb’s dream, while Rosie is coming to terms with new responsibilities. And so begins a stand-off between two women who refuse to move out of the home they both lay claim to.

As the battle lines are drawn, Jimmy Hailler re-enters Rosie’s life. Having always watched other families from the perimeters, he’s now grappling, heartbreakingly, with forming one of his own . . .

An unforgettable story about losing love and finding love; about the interconnectedness of lives and the true nature of belonging, from one of our most acclaimed writers.

Published by Penguin [To purchase, go to Publisher]

Francesca is at the beginning of her second term in Year Eleven at an all boy’s school that has just started accepting girls. She still misses her old friends, and, to make things worse, her mother has had a breakdown and can barely move from her bed.

But Francesca had not counted on the fierce loyalty of her new friends, or falling in love, or finding that it’s within her power to bring her family back together.

A memorable and much-loved Australian classic told with humour, compassion and joy, from the internationally bestselling and multi-award-winning author of Looking for Alibrandi.

Published by Penguin [To purchase, go to Publisher]

Melina Marchetta’s gripping new novel Tell the Truth, Shame the Devil is a cracking fusion of suspense and heart-rending drama.

Chief Inspector Bish Ortley of the London Met, divorced and still grieving the death of his son, has been drowning his anger in Scotch. Something has to give, and he’s no sooner suspended from the force than a busload of British students is subject to a deadly bomb attack across the Channel. Bish’s daughter is one of those on board.

Also on the bus is Violette LeBrac. Raised in Australia, Violette has a troubled background. Thirteen years ago her grandfather bombed a London supermarket, killing dozens of people. Her mother, Noor, is serving a life sentence in connection with the incident. But before Violette’s part in the French tragedy can be established, she disappears.

Bish, who was involved in Noor LeBrac’s arrest, is now compelled to question everything that happened back then. And the more he delves into the lives of the family he helped put away, the more he realises that truth wears many colours.

With its cast of unforgettable characters, social insight and wry wit, Tell the Truth, Shame the Devilis an irresistible novel about human identity, lost children and the nature of real love.

Published by Penguin [To purchase, go to Publisher]

What Zola Did is a gorgeous series intended to engage and entertain newly independent young readers

Zola loves living on Boomerang Street with her mum and her nonna. Every day of the week is an adventure. But Zola has a problem. No matter how much she tries, she can’t keep out of trouble!

There will be seven stories in the series – one for every day of the week.

Published by Penguin [To purchase, go to Publisher]

Have a question about our talent?
View our FAQs or contact us.