Melvin Burgess is regarded as one of the best writers in contemporary children's literature. In 1997 his controversial bestseller Junk won the Carnegie Medal and the Guardian Children's Fiction Award. It was also shortlisted for the 1998 Whitbread Children's Book of the Year. Four of his novels have been shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal: The Cry of the Wolf, And Angel for May, The Baby and the Fly Pie and The Ghost Behind the Wall. Melvin lives in Manchester with his two children.