Born in Vienna, Eva Ibbotson came to England as a small girl. She spent much of her adult life in Newcastle upon Tyne. When her husband was alive he bred snails in the garage; they also kept fish and had a small and very hairy dog. Eva had four grown-up children and seven grandchildren.

Eva married Alan Ibbotson in 1947. They moved to Newcastle-upon-Tyne where they raised their family of three sons and a daughter.

Finding the thought of having to make a career out of conducting experiments on animals appalling, she decided to discontinue her pursuit of a career in scientific research. Ibbotson returned to college, graduating with a diploma in education in 1965 from the University of Durham. She briefly became a teacher in the 1960s before embarking on her writing career.

Eva Ibbotson is the award-winning author of many books for children and adults. She has a daughter and three sons, who showed her that children like to read about ghosts, wizards, and witches “because they are just like people but madder and more interesting.”

She wrote for both adults and children. Which Witch was runner-up for the Carnegie Medal and The Secret of Platform 13 was shortlisted for the Smarties Prize. Journey to the River Sea won the Smarties Book Prize Gold Award, was runner-up for the Whitbread Children’s Book of the Year and the Guardian Fiction Award, and was also shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal.

A brilliant and well known quote from Eva that we should all remember – “Just because we’ve never done it doesn’t mean we can’t do it!”