Eve Bunting

Eve Bunting (1928-2023) was a children's author, born in Northern Ireland and settled in the United States, who wrote more than 250 books for young readers, including the Caldecott Medal-winning picture book Smoky Night (1994).

She was born Eve Bolton in December 1928 in Maghera, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, where her parents ran a shop that doubled as the town's lending library. She boarded at Methodist College Belfast and studied at Queen's University Belfast, married Edward Bunting, and later emigrated with her husband and three children to California. A writing class at a Pasadena college set her on her career, and her first book, The Two Giants, was published in 1971 when she was 43.

Several of her picture books deal with hard subjects. The Wall (1990) follows a boy and his father visiting the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Fly Away Home (1991) tells of a homeless father and son living in an airport, and Smoky Night, published by Harcourt Brace, sees riots in Los Angeles through a child's eyes. She also wrote novels and mysteries for older readers. Honours include the Golden Kite Award (1976) for One More Flight, an Edgar Award for Coffin on a Case! and the Regina Medal (1997). She died in Santa Cruz, California, on 1 October 2023, aged 94.

For collectors. Smoky Night (Harcourt Brace, 1994) is the title with the strongest award record, since David Diaz's illustrations won the 1995 Caldecott Medal. Her debut, The Two Giants (1971), was illustrated by Eric von Schmidt and published by Ginn, according to Publishers Weekly.