Hello! 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 in Ireland, the UK, Germany and Russia, and shortlisted for the Awesome Book Award and the Spellbinding Book Award. My second novel, THE CHESTNUT ROASTER, joined it in 2022 and was nominated for a Carnegie Medal for Writing as well as being selected as a Guardian Book of the Year and The Times Children’s Book of the Week. Its stunning cover, designed and illustrated by Holly Ovenden, won the ABCD Award and shortlisted for The Week Junior Book Awards. My writing is kindly supported by the Arts Council of Ireland and with their help, I continue to write. Book three, THE LAST BOY, was published on 12 September 2024 in the UK and Ireland and will be enjoyed as far away as Sri Lanka in 2025. 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

All About Eve

Eve is a children’s author, artist and Wonderlarker who lives on the Wicklow / Wexford border with her husband, teenage twins, a big dog and two small cats, and is friends with thousands of garden birds.

In 2020, Eve’s debut middle-grade book, Elsetime, was published in the UK by Everything With Words with translations in German and Russian. Elsetime won the Book for Children Award at the Wells Festival of Literature and was short-listed in the UK Spellbinding Awards and the Awesome Book Awards. Eve’s second novel, The Chestnut Roaster, was published in 2022 by the same UK publisher. The Chestnut Roaster was nominated for a Carnegie Medal for Writing 2024, was a Book of the Year with The Guardian, The Sunday Times, The Sunday Independent, the Irish Examiner and the Irish Independent, and was selected as Times Book of the Week. Eve’s latest novel, The Last Boy, was published in 2024 and was selected as a Sunday Times and BookTrust UK Irish Book of the Year. The Last Boy also publishes in Sri Lanka in 2026. On submission of sample chapters of The Chestnut Roaster, The Last Boy and her latest works in progress to the Arts Council of Ireland, she was awarded literary bursaries to help research and write these stories.

In addition to writing children’s books, Eve is an artist and propmaker. Her career includes graphic design, marketing, office management and brand development. She facilitates creative writing and crafting events in libraries, schools and festivals, and teaches weekly online creative writing classes to 8-12-year-olds.

Eve is the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown Arts Office Established Writer-in-Residence 2025-2026 based in the dlr LexIcon Library. She is also a Champion of Reading with Children’s Books Ireland and Children’s Health Ireland since 2024. She has appeared in several book festivals, is a listed with Poetry Ireland’s Writers in Schools Scheme, and is a crew member of #DiscoverIrishKidsBooks.

Eve is an avid social media user and can be found posting about all things bookish via Instagram @Eve_Mc_Donnell and Tiktok @evemcdonnellauthor. See reviews and more details on Eve’s journey to publication, inspiration behind her writing and variety of events available at www.evemcdonnell.com.