Eva Ibbotson author page

Eva Ibbotson biography

Eva Ibbotson was an Austrian-born British author known for her children’s and young adult fiction. She attended Dartington Hall School and later studied physiology at Bedford College, University of London, and postgraduate physiology at Cambridge University. Ibbotson initially pursued a career in science before turning to writing.

Her first published book was The Great Ghost Rescue (1975), followed by titles such as Which Witch? (1979), The Secret of Platform 13 (1994), and Journey to the River Sea (2001). Journey to the River Sea won the Smarties Prize and was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal. Ibbotson also wrote romantic novels for adults, including A Company of Swans (1985) and The Morning Gift (1993).

Her works often feature magical or fantastical elements and have been translated into several languages. Ibbotson received multiple nominations for the Carnegie Medal and was awarded the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize Gold Award for Journey to the River Sea in 2001. Her book The Star of Kazan (2004) was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal and won the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize Silver Award.

Eva Ibbotson’s final novel, One Dog and His Boy, was published posthumously in 2011.