Eva Ibbotson
| Eva Ibbotson | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born | Eva Maria Charlotte Michelle Wiesner 21 January 1925 Vienna, Austria |
| Died | 20 October 2010 (aged 85) |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Nationality | British |
| Period | 1965–2010 |
| Genre | Children's (fantasy), historical fiction, romance novels, drama, |
| Notable works |
Which Witch? Journey to the River Sea |
| Notable awards |
Smarties Prize 2001 |
| Partner | Alan Ibbotson |
| Children | three sons and one daughter |
| Relatives | Anna and Maria |
Eva Maria Charlotte Michelle Ibbotson (née Wiesner; 21 January 1925 – 20 October 2010) was an Austrian-born British novelist, known for her children's books. Some of her novels for adults have been successfully reissued for the young adult market in recent years.
For the historical novel Journey to the River Sea (Macmillan, 2001), she won the Smarties Prize in category 9–11 years, garnered unusual commendation as runner up for the Guardian Prize, and made the Carnegie, Whitbread, and Blue Peter shortlists.
She was a finalist for the 2010 Guardian Prize at the time of her death. Her last book, The Abominables, was one of four finalists for the same award in 2012.
Eva Wiesner was born in Vienna in 1925 to non-practising Jewish parents. Her father, Bertold Paul Wiesner, was a physician who pioneered human infertility treatment. He became a controversial figure, as he is now believed to have used his own sperm to sire perhaps 600 of the children his clinic helped to be born. Her mother, Anna Wilhelmine Gmeyner, was a successful novelist and playwright, who had worked with Bertolt Brecht and written film scripts for Georg Pabst.
Wiesner's parents separated in 1928 when she was 3 years old. What followed for Eva was, in her words, a "very cosmopolitan, sophisticated and quite interesting, but also very unhappy childhood, always on some train and wishing to have a home," as she later recalled. Her father took up a university lectureship in Edinburgh, while her mother left Vienna for Paris in 1933 after her work was banned by Hitler, putting a sudden end to her successful writing career. In 1934, she settled in Belsize Park in Middlesex, and sent for her daughter. Other family members also escaped from Vienna and joined Anna and Eva Maria in England, avoiding the worst of the Nazi regime, which had already affected the family. The experience of fleeing Vienna was a strong thread throughout Ibbotson's life and work.
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