Stella Botchway

Dr Stella Botchway is a writer, academic and Consultant in Public Health Medicine. She studied medicine at the University of Oxford, where she is now a Clinical Researcher and NIHR Doctoral Fellow. Her academic research looks at the healthcare needs of adolescents at risk of self-harm.

Stella has worked with a wide variety of national and international organisations, and writes fiction and non-fiction for academic, professional and general audiences. She was the recipient of an Arts Council Award in 2020.

Writing as Esi Merleh, the is the author of the Magic Faces series published by UCLan Press. The first book in the series, Heroes of the Pirate Ship, was nominated for the Brilliant Book Award, 2024, and was chosen for the Summer Reading Challenge Book Collection, 2024. As Stella Botchway, she writes fiction for young readers with Oxford University Press. Her most recent titles for the Readerful series include Beyond Aquatica, a picture book to be read aloud by an adult for inspiring reading sessions, and The Adventures of Daisy and Red: Moonbow Rescue, for older, struggling readers.