– is more than a single label. I never saw a dyslexic character in a story so I hope that seeing Kallie will make dyslexic readers smile and think ‘I’m dyslexic, maybe I could defeat a terrifying shape-shifting demon too!’”
an overview of the publishing process, which “can seem incredibly daunting to debut authors”. She still faced rejection, but her knowledge of the industry helped Eve understand her role as an author and the amount of work required to promote her books through school events, writing articles and meeting booksellers. She adds: “I still feel much more comfortable promoting other people’s books than my own!”
Eve’s first book The Bird Singers was published in 2022 by Hachette Children’s, and was nominated for multiple awards. It is a mysterious upper middle grade fantasy that explores sisterhood and family troubles, and it was inspired by Eve’s own Polish heritage, drawing from Eastern European folktales. The Wildstorm Curse was Eve’s second
Autumn-Winter 2025
release, published in 2023 also through Hachette Children’s. It is the suspenseful story of a cursed theatre, and a group of new friends that will have to defeat the ancient power that created that curse, before it destroys the whole village. The book was an indie bookshop bestseller and has been praised for its dyslexia representation.
Eve says: “The fact that Kallie – our 13-year-old heroine who dreams of becoming a playwright – is dyslexic is rather incidental. The most important part of Kallie’s character is that she is a storyteller and her storytelling will save the day! We need books which explore neurodiverse experiences, the joys and the struggles, but we also need books where neurodiverse characters just have jolly good adventures! A character – a person
Speaking of visibility, Eve reflects on the difference in people’s acceptance of neurodivergence, from the time when she got her diagnosis to today: “Luckily, understanding and support into neurodiversity has greatly improved since 2005; it is more much more visible.” She adds that as a child, she had never imagined being able to stand in front of hundreds of children and talk about her experience with dyslexia, “especially when I was so embarrassed by it”. Hosting author events with children has made Eve realise that kids nowadays do not feel the same embarrassment when revealing they are dyslexic: “Children are so proud to tell me that they too are dyslexic and we share this special bond. I am so proud that I can be the dyslexic role model, which I never had. I tell kids; I wouldn’t be an author if I wasn’t dyslexic, because I wouldn’t be me. Being dyslexic makes my imagination work in wild, swooping, cinematic ways and it makes me a unique storyteller. “I find it heartening that today most primary school children know what being dyslexic means. It’s not an unusual, medical word to them. My favourite part of the event is spotting the kids who are dyslexic suddenly sit up straighter, surprised smiles on their faces.” Eve’s most recent release is the first book in a brand-new middle grade series, titled Clem Fatale Has Been Betrayed, published this past April by Little Tiger. It is a noir thriller, comedy-adventure set in London in 1951, following the daughter of a jewel thief who must find her missing father. The inspiration behind the book is Eve’s love of 1940s and 1950s films, from directors such as Billy Wilder, Alfred Hitchcock and Powell & Presburger.
Clem Fatale Has Been Betrayed is full of “comedy crooks, fast-talking and sneaky- walking; shady dives and glamorous dance clubs!” Eve adds: “As a child, I preferred fast-paced stories – if the plot had me hooked I wouldn’t care that I couldn’t read every word, I’d just want to know what was going to happen next! To please that reluctant reader, I’ve thrown in as many twists and turns and thrills and spills as I can fit!”
Eve still keeps the manuscript of her first finished novel in a black binder under her desk when she writes now. She is currently working on the sequel to Clem Fatale Has Been Betrayed, which is set to be published by Little Tiger in January 2026. PEN&INC
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