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, will be published on 12 September 2024. 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 and artist who lives halfway up a hill in north Co Wexford with her husband, twins, a dog and four cats. Having recognised the similarities between a blank canvas and a blank page, her writing career kicked off following a visit to a fortune-teller who told her to Write! Write! Write!

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 and was nominated for the Yoto Carnegie Medal for Writing 2024. It 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. On submission of sample chapters of The Chestnut Roaster and her next book, The Last Boy (12 September 2024) 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 graphic designer. Her professional career includes marketing, office management and brand development. She currently provides creative writing and crafting events to libraries, schools and festivals, and facilitates weekly online creative writing classes to 9-12-year-olds. She has appeared in several book festivals in Ireland and the UK, was Festival Producer for the annual WonderFest Children’s Book Festival in Ireland and is a team member of #DiscoverIrishKidsBooks.

Eve is a member of Children’s Books Ireland, the Irish Writers Centre and the Society of Authors. She is an avid social media user and can be found posting about all things bookish via Instagram and X.