Eve McDonnell

I’m Eve, I love naples-yellow and ultramarine, not to mention all the colours hiding in the black and white pages of a good children’s book. I write, and when I’m not writing, I’m painting. And when I’m not doing either, I’m a fire-spitting dragon hissing at myself to just start somewhere.

My love for painting was kick-started at a young age when I won a prize in the Texaco Art Competition (go, little me!). I attended the National College of Art and Design before embarking on a career in graphic design. It didn’t take me long to see the similarities between a blank canvas, a blank screen and a blank page so, when a fortune-teller shrieked write! write! write! at me, I listened* and began writing for children that very day.

Prior to publication, winning the Wells Festival of Literature Book for Children Award (see here for interview) and long-listing in the Bath Children’s Novel Award (go, bigger me!) was my point of no return. And thank goodness I did ‘start somewhere’ as my debut children’s book, ELSETIME, is now on the bookshelves. My second novel, THE CHESTNUT ROASTER, will join it in October 2022 (read more about my books here). 

I guess I’m in this writing game for the long run and can’t wait to see where it takes me. I could just ask that fortune-teller, but nah!

Onward!

Eve x

*and who’d blame me? She’d also predicted twins and, soon after, bingo!

 

ELSETIME

~WINNER, CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARD (pre publication) WELLS FESTIVAL OF LITERATURE 2017 ~

~ BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020: HALFWAY UP BOOKS ~

~ CHILDREN’S BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020: BRIDGE STREET BOOKS ~

~ SHORTLISTED FOR THE SPELLBINDING BOOK AWARD 2021 ~

~ SHORTLISTED FOR THE AWESOME BOOK AWARD 2022 ~

Read more about ELSETIME and THE CHESTNUT ROASTER here.

Cover art & internal illustrations by Holly Ovenden

View a sample of my paintings in my gallery here.