Melina Marchetta

Carmelina Marchetta (born 25 March 1965) is an Australian writer and teacher. Marchetta is best known as the author of teen novels, Looking for Alibrandi, Saving Francesca and On the Jellicoe Road. She has twice been awarded the CBCA Children's Book of the Year Award: Older Readers, in 1993 and 2004. For Jellicoe Road she won the 2009 Michael L. Printz Award from the American Library Association, recognizing the year's best book for young adults. She left school at age fifteen as she was not confident in her academic ability. She enrolled in a business school which helped her gain employment with the Commonwealth Bank and later at a travel agency. This gave her confidence to return to study and gain a teaching degree from the Australian Catholic University. Dubbed "the most stolen library book", the novel has sold more than half a million copies worldwide and was followed by her film adaptation of the same title released in 1999, Looking for Alibrandi.

Worldwide recognition: 2003–present

While writing the AFI award-winning screenplay Marchetta taught English, Italian and History full-time for ten 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. In its U.S. edition, Jellicoe Road won the 2009 Printz Award for "literary excellence in young adult literature". It has since won the 2008 Aurealis Award for best young-adult novel and the 2009 ABIA (Australian Booksellers Industry Awards) Book of the Year for Older Children, and was shortlisted for the 2009 CBCA Children's Book of the Year Award: Older Readers. In the USA Finnikin has received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal, Booklist and the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books. while also working on writing the script for Saving Francesca. In 2016, she published Tell The Truth, Shame The Devil. Melina went on to collaborate with Kathryn Barker on a book When Rosie Met Jim/ Shoeboxes: Volume 22. In 2019, she released The Place on Dalhousie. Marchetta's most recent publications have been part of a junior fiction series entitled What Zola Did.

Personal life Marchetta lives in Sydney. Marchetta makes visits to schools to talk about her books. She also attends interviews, book signings, book club meetings at libraries and bookshops and gives talks to students about her novels.

Awards and nominations Won – CBCA Children's Book of the Year Award: Older Readers for Looking for Alibrandi (1993) Won – Film Critics Circle of Australia, Best Screenplay – Adapted for Looking for Alibrandi (2000) Won – New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, Script Writing Award for Looking for Alibrandi (2000) Won – Australian Film Institute Award, Best Adapted Screenplay for Looking for Alibrandi (2000) Won – BILBY Award: Older Readers winner for Looking for Alibrandi (2000) Shortlisted – South Australia Premier's Awards, Children's Literature Award for Saving Francesca (2004) Won – CBCA Children's Book of the Year Award: Older Readers for Saving Francesca (2004) Shortlisted – Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA), Australian Book of the Year: Older Children for On the Jellicoe Road (2007) Shortlisted – Queensland Premier's Literary Awards, Best Young Adult Book for On the Road (2007) Won – Aurealis Award, Young Adult Division, Best Long Fiction for Finnikin of the Rock (2008) Won – Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature for On the Jellicoe Road (2009) Shortlisted – New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, Young Adult Book Award for The Piper's Son (2010) Shortlisted – New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, Ethel Turner Prize for The Piper's Son (2010) Shortlisted – Prime Minister's Literary Awards, Young Adult Literature, for The Piper's Son (2011) Winner – New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, Special Award

Screenplay Marchetta wrote the screenplay for the film Looking for Alibrandi (1999), a film starring Pia Miranda, Greta Scacchi and Anthony La Paglia. The film was a box office success, winning five awards including an AFI award and an Independent Film Award for best screenplay, as well as the NSW Premier's Literary Award and the Film Critics Circle of Australia Award.

In 2016, Marchetta announced on her blog she had completed the screenplay for a film adaptation of On the Jellicoe Road. In December 2019 Werner Film Productions, ZDF Enterprises and Wild Sheep Content announced an 8-part TV series. Marchetta will write the pilot with writers Samantha Strauss, Sarah Walker and Angela Betzien also attached.

Selected works Looking for Alibrandi (1992), novel Looking for Alibrandi (1999), screenplay On the Jellicoe Road (2006); U.S. title, Jellicoe Road (2008) Tell the Truth, Shame the Devil (2016) The Place on Dalhousie (2019) What Zola Did on Tuesday (2020)