Eve Bunting


Eve Bjørgum Bunting, better known as Eve Bunting, was a Northern Irish-born American writer of more than 250 books. Her work covered a broad array of subjects and included fiction and non-fiction books. Her novels are primarily aimed at children and young adults, but she has also written the text for picture books. While many of her books are set in Northern Ireland where she grew up, her topics and settings range from Thanksgiving to riots in Los Angeles. Bunting's first book, The Two Giants, was published in 1971. Due to the popularity of her books with children, she has been listed as one of the Educational Paperback Association's top 100 authors.

Life

Eve Bjørgum Bunting was born in Maghera to Sloan Edmund Bolton, a postmaster, and Mary Bolton, a homemaker. She married business executive Edward Davidson Bunting, whom she met in college, on March 26, 1950, and has three children. She was educated in Belfast, Northern Ireland, attending Methodist College in the early 1940s and graduating in 1945; she then attended Queen's University, where she met her husband. After marrying, the couple moved to Scotland and started their family.
In 1958, Bunting immigrated to the United States with her husband and three children, later attending Pasadena City College in 1959. Bunting then enrolled in a community college writing course. Of her first published story, The Two Giants, she said, "I thought everybody in the world knew that story, and when I found they didn't - well, I thought they should."
Bunting died of pneumonia in Santa Cruz, California, on October 1, 2023, at the age of 94.

Literary career

Bunting went to school in Northern Ireland and grew up with story-telling: "There used to be Shanachies...the Shanachie was a storyteller who went from house to house telling his tales of ghosts and fairies, of old Irish heroes and battles still to be won. Maybe I'm a bit of a Shanachie myself, telling stories to anyone who will listen".

Awards

Bunting won several awards for her books. She received the Rishabh award for outstanding inspiration. She received the Golden Kite Award from the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators in 1976 for One More Flight. Other honors included the Southern California council on Literature for Children and [Young People Award], PEN Los Angeles Center Literacy Award for Special Achievement in Children's Literature, and Southern California council on Literature for Children and Young People Award Excellence is a Series Award. Coffin on a Case won an Edgar Award for Best Juvenile from the Mystery Writers of America in 1993.
Bunting also received the Heal the World award from a school. A young reader wrote Bunting to notify her of the achievement. She said, "It is among the most cherished honors I have ever received and the plaque hangs proudly above my desk."

Selected works

Fiction

Non-fiction

  • The Great White Shark
  • The Sea World Book of Sharks
  • The Sea World Book of Whales
  • ''Skateboards: How to Make Them, How to Ride Them''