Aka M.J. McGrath Melanie McGrath was born in Essex. Her first book, Motel Nirvana, won the John Llewelyn-Rhys/Mail on Sunday award for Best New British and Commonwealth Writer under 35. She is also the author of Hard, Soft and Wet: The Digital Generation Comes of Age, and Silvertown: An East End Family Memoir. She writes for The Guardian, The Independent, The Times, The Evening Standard and Conde Nast Traveller. She is a regular broadcaster on radio, has been a television producer and presenter. She lives and works in London.