Melissa Boyce-Hurd was an editorial Intern at Cornerstones Literary Consultancy, working on their Elevate Mentorship Programme for underrepresented authors and learning invaluable editing skills from their talented team. She also interned with Lantana Publishing to aid with their goal of improving representation in children’s fiction and reads manuscripts for London Literary Scouting to recommend new books for screen adaptations.

Melissa is passionate about rich, diverse representation in literature and is currently finishing her master’s degree in Children’s Literature, Media and Culture from the University of Glasgow. In her master’s, she has enjoyed studying authenticity in narrative voices, texts from different cultures, and digital storytelling. She has a BA in French from Oxford, where she focused her studies on literary translation and cinema.

Outside of work, Melissa enjoys writing songs, learning foreign languages, and travelling. She loves all kinds of storytelling, from simple heartfelt stories to epics full of twists and turns and beyond.