Melissa Lee-Houghton

Lee-Houghton was born in 1982 in Wythenshawe, England.[1][2][7]

Lee-Houghton began writing poetry in elementary school.[8] As a child, she was "the victim of horrific sexual abuse" and was later diagnosed with bipolar disorder.[9] In 1996, at age 14, she had a prolonged hospital stay in a psychiatric ward, during which she began writing letters and poetry.[9] Lee-Houghton has stated, "Writing helped me feel as though I was releasing some of the anguish that I’d been forced to keep to myself."[9] Two years later, Lee-Houghton became pregnant and homeless.[8] In 2002, she was hospitalized for a mixed affective episode and given benzodiazepine, to which she became addicted.[9] During this time, she was unable to keep writing, though she began again during a 2008 hospitalization.[9] The following year, she finished her first book, A Body Made of You,[9] which was published in 2011. Discussing the power of writing poetry for her, Lee-Houghton stated, "Writing poetry, for me, has an intoxicating effect akin to taking a drug - in many ways, it is a short-term, substitutive distraction. But it provides satisfaction, both through the act of creating and the subsequent rewards of earning money and the enthusiastic responses of others."[9]

Her poetry, essays, and short stories have been published in Granta,[10] The White Review,[11] and others. Aside from writing, Lee-Houghton regularly reviews submissions for The Short Review.[12]

Beautiful Girls was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation for Winter 2013.[1][12]

In 2014, Lee-Houghton was selected as a Next Generation Poet,[7] a list created every 20 years by the Poetry Book Society of poets "expected to dominate the poetry landscape of the coming decade."[13][14] Lee-Houghton was ranked 69th in PBS's "A to Z guide of 100 Women Poets to Read Now."[15][16] In 2016, she won the Northern Writers’ Awards for Fiction.[17][10]