Melissa Harrison

Melissa Harrison (born 1975) is an English novelist, short story and nature writer.

Early

Harrison was born in Effingham Junction, Surrey in 1975. After graduating, she worked as a freelance magazine subeditor, while contributing a regular "Nature Notes" column in The Times, columns for The Guardian and contributions to radio and television.

Literary career

Her first novel, Clay, was published by Bloomsbury in January 2013, followed by At Hawthorn Time in 2015. Her non-fiction books include Rain: Four Walks in English Weather (2016). A third novel, All Among the Barley, was published in August 2018. Her short story "The Black Dog" was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2017 and she has contributed episodes to the channel's Tweet of the Day programme. She has appeared on the BBC Two series Springwatch. 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. Her first children's novel, By Ash, Oak and Thorn was published by Chicken House Books in May 2021.

Harrison was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (FRSL) in 2026.

Awards