Eva Furnari was born in Rome in 1948, but her family moved to Brazil when she was 2 years old. She started her career as a writer in 1980 and has since published more than 60 books for children. She has won numerous awards throughout her long career, including nine FNLIJ awards, the Jabuti and the APCA Award. She was included in the honours list compiled by IBBY for O feitiçodo sapo! (The Spell of the Toad).