Ev's background is as checkered as a chess board. From her childhood in a tiny village (pop: 50, including dogs and cats) in Newfoundland, Canada to the present, she has moved 20 times, including a two-year stint teaching in a private school in Tehran, Iran.
She cites as her major influence her grandmother, deceased since 1977. "She had an enormous library," says Ev, "and the sense to never tell me a book was good for me!"

Ev lives in Toronto, Canada, with her main (and only!) man, William. "He makes me laugh every day," she says.