Born the year the Beatles released Twist and Shout, Melinda Szymanik grew up in South Auckland, going to school, reading books, watching old movies, attending ballet classes and hoping it would rain every Saturday morning when she joined the school hockey team in seventh form.  After school she went to Auckland University and completed a Masters in Science, studying wallabies on Rangitoto Island.  Despite an interest in wallabies Melinda then went on to work in several different administrative positions while also studying for a diploma in Business Studies and a degree in English, both from Massey. 

Now living in Mt Eden, Melinda has three school age children, runs a business with her husband and writes whenever possible. Melinda's short stories have appeared in the School Journal and the Australian School magazine. Her short story Rush appears in Random House's collection of sporty stories, Dare and Double Dare (2007) and another, The Gift, has been included in a new anthology, Short (Black Dog Books, 2008). Her first picture book Clever Moo was published by Scholastic in 2006 and her first junior novel Jack the Viking and another picture book The Were-Nana, also both with Scholastic NZ, came out in 2008. The Were-Nana was voted winner of the Children’s Choice Award at the 2009 NZ Post Children’s Book Awards..
Twice short listed for the Joy Cowley Award (2003 and 2006) Melinda is passionate about story and addicted to books. When she is not writing, Melinda hangs out with her family, reads, does sudoku puzzles and investigates new developments in chocolate.