diff --git a/events.go b/events.go
index 40cc745a..013388fa 100644
--- a/events.go
+++ b/events.go
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/pkg/errors"
 )
 
-type EventResponse struct {
+type eventResponse struct {
 	Events []Event `json:"items"`
 	Paging
 }
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ type Event struct {
 	// Message
 	// TODO: unify message types
 	Message       *EventMessage
-	Recipient     *string                      `json:"recipient,omitempty"`
+	Recipient     *Recipient                   `json:"recipient,omitempty"`
 	Routes        []Route                      `json:"routes,omitempty"`
 	Storage       *Storage                     `json:"storage,omitempty"`
 	UserVariables map[string]map[string]string `json:"user-variables"`
@@ -135,7 +135,7 @@ type GetEventsOptions struct {
 
 // EventIterator maintains the state necessary for paging though small parcels of a larger set of events.
 type EventIterator struct {
-	EventResponse
+	eventResponse
 	mg  Mailgun
 	err error
 }
@@ -189,7 +189,7 @@ func (mg *MailgunImpl) ListEvents(opts *EventsOptions) *EventIterator {
 	url, err := req.generateUrlWithParameters()
 	return &EventIterator{
 		mg:            mg,
-		EventResponse: EventResponse{Paging: Paging{Next: url, First: url}},
+		eventResponse: eventResponse{Paging: Paging{Next: url, First: url}},
 		err:           err,
 	}
 }
@@ -433,18 +433,5 @@ func (ei *EventIterator) fetch(url string) error {
 	r.setClient(ei.mg.Client())
 	r.setBasicAuth(basicAuthUser, ei.mg.ApiKey())
 
-	return getResponseFromJSON(r, &ei.EventResponse)
-}
-
-func toMapInterface(field string, thingy map[string]interface{}) (map[string]interface{}, error) {
-	var empty map[string]interface{}
-	obj, ok := thingy[field]
-	if !ok {
-		return empty, errors.Errorf("'%s' field not found in event", field)
-	}
-	result, ok := obj.(map[string]interface{})
-	if !ok {
-		return empty, errors.Errorf("'%s' field not a map[string]interface{}", field)
-	}
-	return result, nil
+	return getResponseFromJSON(r, &ei.eventResponse)
 }
diff --git a/recipients.go b/recipients.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..31788493
--- /dev/null
+++ b/recipients.go
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+package mailgun
+
+import "fmt"
+import "strings"
+
+type Recipient struct {
+	Name  string `json:"-"`
+	Email string `json:"-"`
+}
+
+func (r Recipient) String() string {
+	if r.Name != "" {
+		return fmt.Sprintf("%s <%s>", r.Name, r.Email)
+	}
+	return r.Email
+}
+
+// MarshalText satisfies TextMarshaler
+func (r Recipient) MarshalText() ([]byte, error) {
+	return []byte(r.String()), nil
+}
+
+// UnmarshalText satisfies TextUnmarshaler
+func (r *Recipient) UnmarshalText(text []byte) error {
+	s := string(text)
+	if s[len(s)-1:] != ">" {
+		*r = Recipient{Email: s}
+		return nil
+	}
+
+	i := strings.Index(s, "<")
+	// at least 1 char followed by a space
+	if i < 2 {
+		return fmt.Errorf("malformed recipient string '%s'", s)
+	}
+	*r = Recipient{
+		Name:  strings.TrimSpace(s[:i]),
+		Email: s[i+1 : len(s)-1],
+	}
+
+	return nil
+}