Melina Marchetta

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Melina Marchetta
Born (1965-03-25) 25 March 1965 (age 58)
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
OccupationWriter
Period1992–present
Genre Young adult fiction
Notable works
Notable awards CBCA Children's Book of the Year Award: Older Readers
Website
www.melinamarchetta.com.au

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. [1] 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. [2]

Contents

Education and early work

Melina Marchetta was born in Sydney on 25 March 1965. She is of Italian descent, a middle child with two sisters. Marchetta attended high school at Rosebank College in the Sydney suburb of Five Dock. [3] She left school at age fifteen as she was not confident in her academic ability. [4] She enrolled in a business school which helped her gain employment with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and later at a travel agency. This gave her confidence to return to study and gain a teaching degree from the Australian Catholic University. [4] She then got a job teaching at St Mary's Cathedral College, Sydney in the heart of the Sydney CBD until 2006.[ citation needed ] She now writes full-time.[ citation needed ]

Breakthrough: Looking for Alibrandi

Her first novel, Looking for Alibrandi was released in 1992 with a first print-run sellout within two months of its release. [5] Published in 16 countries, including 11 translated editions, Looking for Alibrandi swept the pool of literary awards for young adult fiction in 1993 including the CBCA Children's Book of the Year Award: Older Readers. [5] [6] Dubbed "the most stolen library book", [7] 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". [2]

Marchetta's fourth novel, the fantasy epic Finnikin of the Rock , was released by Penguin Australia in October 2008. [8] 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. [9] In the USA Finnikin has received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, [10] School Library Journal, [11] Booklist and the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books. [8]

Marchetta has also written short stories including Twelve Minutes, part of the Books Alive anthology "10 Short Stories You Must Read This Year", along with reviews and opinion pieces for The Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian and the Australian Literary Review . She has been a writer-in-residence around the country, as far north as Thursday Island and as far south as Hobart.

Her fifth novel, The Piper's Son was released in Australia in 2010 and is an accompanying novel to Saving Francesca, but through the perspective of another character in the book. [9]

She has been working on getting the Jellicoe Road movie script into production, [12] while also working on writing the script for Saving Francesca. [13] 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. [14]

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.[ citation needed ]

Awards and nominations

Screenplay

Marchetta wrote the screenplay for the film Looking for Alibrandi (1999), a film starring Pia Miranda, Greta Scacchi and Anthony La Paglia. [23] 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. [24]

In 2016, Marchetta announced on her blog she had completed the screenplay for a film adaptation of On the Jellicoe Road . [25] 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. [26]

Selected works

Saving Francesca

The Lumatere Chronicles

What Zola Did

See also

Related Research Articles

Looking for Alibrandi is a 2000 Australian coming-of-age film directed by Kate Woods and written by Melina Marchetta. The film is set in 1990s Sydney, New South Wales and features a cast of Australian actors, including Pia Miranda as Josephine Alibrandi, the film's main character; Anthony LaPaglia as her father, Michael Andretti, who left her and her mother before her birth; and Kick Gurry as Josie's love interest, Jacob Coote. The film won the Australian Film Institute Award for Best Film in 2000.

<i>Looking for Alibrandi</i> (novel) 1992 Australian novel by Melina Marchetta

Looking for Alibrandi is the debut novel of Australian author Melina Marchetta, published in 1992. A film adaptation of the same name was made in 2000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pia Miranda</span> Australian actress (born 1973)

Pia Miranda is an Australian actress whose career was launched with her role in the 2000 feature film Looking for Alibrandi, an Australian film based on the novel of the same name by Melina Marchetta. She is also known for her roles as Karen Oldman in Neighbours (1998–1999), Jodie Spiteri in Wentworth (2015), and Jen in Mustangs FC (2017–2020), as well as winning Australian Survivor in 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Markus Zusak</span> Australian writer

Markus Zusak is an Australian writer. He is best known for The Book Thief and The Messenger, two novels which became international bestsellers. He won the Margaret A. Edwards Award in 2014.

Alyssa Brugman is an Australian author of fiction for young adults. She was born in Rathmines, a suburb of Lake Macquarie, Australia and attended five public schools before completing a Marketing Degree at the University of Newcastle. She resides in the Hunter Region.

<i>The Stone Key</i> 2008 novel by Isobelle Carmody

The Stone Key is a 2008 science fiction novel by Isobelle Carmody, set in a post apocalyptic world. It is the fifth book in the Obernewtyn Chronicles.

Margaret Wild is an Australian children's writer. She has written more than 40 books for children. Her work has been published around the world and has won several awards. She was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Children's Book Council of Australia in 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Craig Silvey</span> Australian novelist and musician

Craig Silvey is an Australian novelist. Silvey has twice been named one of the Best Young Australian Novelists by The Sydney Morning Herald and has been shortlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award. His 2009 second novel was selected by the American Library Association as "Best Fiction for Young Adults" in their 2012 list, and was made into the movie Jasper Jones in 2017.

<i>On the Jellicoe Road</i> Novel by Melina Marchetta

On the Jellicoe Road is a young adult novel by Australian novelist Melina Marchetta. It was first published in Australia in 2006 by Penguin Australia under the title On the Jellicoe Road, where it was awarded the 2008 West Australia Young Readers Book (WAYRB) Award for Older Readers. It was later published in the United States in 2008 under the abbreviated title Jellicoe Road by HarperTeen and went on to win the 2009 Michael L. Printz Award from the American Library Association.

<i>Finnikin of the Rock</i> 2009 young adult fantasy novel by Melina Marchetta

Finnikin of the Rock is a 2009 young adult fantasy novel by Melina Marchetta. It follows the story of Finnikin of the Rock and his guardian who have been away from home for ten years, since the royal family was killed. But when he is told that the heir to the throne is still alive they must follow a young woman, Evanjalin, in order to reach the prince.

Jane Godwin is an Australian author, and is a publisher at Penguin Books Australia for children and young adult books.

Kirsty Murray is an Australian author. Murray writes children's fiction with a focus on Australian history. She is known for the Children of the Wind series of children's novels. She is a recipient of the Aurealis Award for best children's fiction.

Cath Crowley is a young adult fiction author based in Melbourne, Australia. She has been shortlisted and received numerous literary awards including the 2011 Prime Minister's Literary Award for Young Adult Fiction for her novel Graffiti Moon and, in 2017, the Griffith University Young Adult Book Award at the Queensland Literary Awards for Words in Deep Blue.

Claire Zorn is an Australian writer of young adult fiction. She was awarded the CBCA Children's Book of the Year Award: Older Readers in 2015 and 2017.

This is a list of historical events and publications of Australian literature during 2019.

This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 1992.

Bren MacDibble is a New Zealand-born writer of children's and young adult books based in Australia. Bren also writes under the name Cally Black. She uses the alias to distinguish between books written for younger children and books written for young adults.

Fiona Anna Wood is an Australian writer of young adult fiction. She is a three-time winner of the Children's Book of the Year Award: Older Readers award.

Zana Fraillon is an Australian writer of fiction for children and young adults based in Melbourne, Australia. Fraillon is known for allowing young readers to examine human rights abuses within fiction and in 2017 she won an Amnesty CILIP Honour for her book The Bone Sparrow which highlights the plight of the Rohingya people. The Bone Sparrow has been translated to stage and is set to premier in the York Theatre Royal, York, UK, from 25 February 2022.

Shivaun Plozza is an Australian author of books for children and young adults. She also works as an editor, manuscript assessor and illustrator.

References

  1. ↑ "Melina Marchetta | AustLit: Discover Australian Stories". www.austlit.edu.au. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
  2. 1 2 "Michael L. Printz Winners and Honor Books". YALSA. American Library Association. Retrieved 8 March 2013.
  3. ↑ "Rise and fall of Little Italy: Haberfield's changing face". Archived from the original on 13 October 2009. Retrieved 23 May 2016.
  4. 1 2 "Looking beyond Alibrandi". The Age. 28 March 2003. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
  5. 1 2 "KYDYAC - Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta". Kill Your Darlings. 31 May 2022. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
  6. ↑ "Biography" . Retrieved 26 March 2017.
  7. ↑ "The making of Looking for Alibrandi: 'If we didn't get it right, we'd be crucified'". the Guardian. 15 May 2020. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
  8. 1 2 Austlit. "Finnikin of the Rock | AustLit: Discover Australian Stories". www.austlit.edu.au. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
  9. 1 2 Austlit. "Melina Marchetta | AustLit: Discover Australian Stories". www.austlit.edu.au. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
  10. ↑ "Children's Book Review: Finnikin of the Rock by Melina Marchetta". www.publishersweekly.com. 1 February 2010. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
  11. ↑ Burns, Elizabeth. "Review: Finnikin of the Rock". SLJ: A chair, a fireplace and a tea cozy. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
  12. ↑ White, Peter (2 December 2019). "Former Netflix International Exec Erik Barmack To Adapt Australian Teen Novel 'On the Jellicoe Road' With ZDFE & Werner Film". Deadline. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
  13. ↑ "Author Melina Marchetta talks 'On the Jellicoe Road' movie". Hypable. 27 March 2013. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
  14. ↑ Austlit. "What Zola Did | AustLit: Discover Australian Stories". www.austlit.edu.au. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
  15. ↑ "Film Critics Circle of Australia website". Fcca.com.au. 15 September 2013. Retrieved 15 November 2013.
  16. ↑ BILBY Awards Previous winners
  17. ↑ "2007 ABIA Shortlists" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 June 2012. Retrieved 15 November 2013.
  18. ↑ "QUEENSLAND PREMIER'S LITERARY AWARDS SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED – The Queensland Cabinet and Ministerial Directory". statements.qld.gov.au. Retrieved 28 March 2020.
  19. ↑ "2011 NSW Premier's Literary Awards – Shortlist" (PDF). Retrieved 28 March 2020.
  20. ↑ Arts, Department of Communications and the (23 April 2019). "The piper's son". www.communications.gov.au. Retrieved 28 March 2020.
  21. ↑ "NSW Premier's Literary Awards 2021 winners announced". Books+Publishing. 27 April 2021. Retrieved 28 April 2021.
  22. ↑ "'Eight jobs at once and no sick days': $60,000 prizes a welcome relief for young writer". www.abc.net.au. 26 April 2021. Retrieved 28 April 2021.
  23. ↑ Looking for Alibrandi (Comedy, Drama, Romance), Robyn Kershaw Productions, 4 May 2000, retrieved 31 May 2022
  24. ↑ "Puffin at Penguin Books Australia – Author Details". Penguin.com.au. Retrieved 15 November 2013.
  25. ↑ Marchetta, Melina (4 January 2016). "A whole lot of misc to start 2016". Melina Marchetta (blog). Retrieved 15 November 2021.
  26. ↑ Groves, Don (2 December 2019). "Joanna Werner finds international partners for 'On the Jellicoe Road'". IF Magazine. The Intermedia Group. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
  27. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Books of Melina Marchetta". Penguin Books Australia. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
  28. ↑ "The Gorgon in the Gully: Pocket Money Puffins". Penguin Books Australia. Retrieved 16 October 2011.
  29. ↑ Official website
  30. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "What Zola Did". Penguin Books Australia. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
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