Melanie Neale, the author of Boat Girl: A Memoir of Youth, Love, and Fiberglass, grew up aboard a 47' sailboat traveling the US East Coast and Bahamas. She earned a BFA in Creative Writing from Eckerd College in 2002 and an MFA in Creative Writing from Florida International University in 2006. She has taught college, detailed boats, captained and crewed on boats, coordinated marketing events, and scooped minnows in a bait shop.

Melanie currently works as the Director of Career Services for a private art college in northern Florida, where she lives with her husband and daughter.

Melanie has been published in many literary journals and magazines, including Soundings, Seaworthy, Southwinds, GulfStream, Latitudes & Attitudes, The Miami Herald's Tropical Life Magazine, Balancing the Tides, The Georgetown Review, RumBum.com and Florida Humanities. Her "Short Story" column appeared bimonthly in Cruising World Magazine from 2006 to 2009.