Jessica Zhan Mei Yu is a writer of fiction, nonfiction and poetry. She holds a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Melbourne, where she currently teaches. But the Girl is her debut novel. In 2020 she was shortlisted for the Victorian Premier's Prize for Literature Award in the Unpublished Manuscript category. Her writing has been published in Best Australian Poems, Overland, Yen, the Sydney Morning Herald, the White Review and more. She has won various prizes and fellowships for her work, including the Felix Meyer Scholarship, Glenfern Fellowship, Wheeler Centre Hot Desk Fellowship, Young Writers Innovation Prize and the Best of Express Media Prize.