Eve Sutton

Eve Sutton was born in England in 1906. She and her family – husband and three sons – moved to New Zealand in 1949. Eve taught primary school in England from 1927 until 1931. Eve came to writing after working as a Braille transcriber, and wrote an article detailing her experience. This was published – and she was paid for it – but other submissions were rejected. Her career took off when a cousin suggested they write a children's picture book together. That cousin was Lynley Dodd and the book, My Cat Likes to Hide in Boxes is now a New Zealand classic.

Eve's experiences as an emigrant led her to wonder about what life was like for earlier emigrants to New Zealand – resulting in a series of novels about this subject. Eve wrote one book with a girl as the main character, Skip for the Huntaway, but had to set it in modern times, as girls didn't have very adventurous lives in the colonial period.

Selected bibliography:

• My Cat Likes to Hide in Boxes illustrated by Lynley Dodd (Hamish Hamilton 1973).
• Green Gold illustrated by Paul Wright (Hamish Hamilton 1976).
• Johnny Sweep illustrated by Paul Wright (Hamish Hamilton 1977).
• Tuppenny Brown illustrated by Paul Wright (Hamish Hamilton 1977).
• Moa Hunter illustrated by Bernard Brett (Hamish Hamilton 1978).
• Surgeon's Boy illustrated by Fiona Kelly (Mallinson Rendel / Ashton Scholastic 1983).
• Skip for the Huntaway illustrated by Ernest Papps (Price Milburn 1983).
• Kidnapped by Blackbirders illustrated by Fiona Kelly (Mallinson Rendel 1984).  
• Valley of Heavenly Gold illustrated by Doss (Mallinson Rendel 1987).

Awards:

• Esther Glen Award 1975 for My Cat Likes to Hide in Boxes.
• CLA Award for Services to Children's Literature (now Storylines Betty Gilderdale Award) 1990.