Cornelia Funke

Cornelia Funke
Cornelia Funke at 2008 Madrid book fair
Born	10 December 1958 (1958-12-10) (age 52) Dorsten, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Occupation	Author
Genres	Adventure, Fantasy
Spouse(s)	Rolf Funke (1981–2006, his death)
Children	Anna (1989) Ben (1994)
Influences Michael Ende, Grahame Greene, C.S. Lewis, Astrid Lindgren, Karl May, Philip Pullman, Shel Silverstein, Mark Twain[1][2]
www.corneliafunke.de/en/

Cornelia Funke (pronounced [ˈfʊŋkə], FOON-ka^[3]) is a multiple award-winning German author of children's fiction. She was born on 10 December 1958, in Dorsten, North Rhine-Westphalia. Funke is best known for her Inkworld trilogy, with the English translation of the third book, Inkdeath, released on 6 October 2008.^[4] Many of her books have now been translated into English. Her work fits mainly into the fantasy and adventure genres. She currently lives in Los Angeles, California.

Funke has sold over 10 million copies of her books worldwide.^[5]

Biography

Cornelia Funke was born in 1958 in the town of Dorsten in Westphalia, Germany^[6] to Karl-Heinz and Helmi Funke. As a child, she wanted to become an astronaut and/or a pilot, but then decided to study pedagogy at the University of Hamburg.^[7] After finishing her studies, Funke worked for three years as a social worker. During her social work she focused on working with children who came from deprived backgrounds.^[8] She had a stint illustrating books, but soon began writing her own stories,^[7] inspired by the sorts of stories that had appealed to the deprived children she had worked with.^[8] During the late 1980s and the 1990s, Funke established herself in Germany with two children's series, namely the fantasy-oriented Gespensterjäger (Ghosthunters) and the Wilde Hühner (Wild Chicks) line of books. Funke has been called "the J. K. Rowling" of Germany; although she was highly successful in Germany, the first of her books to be translated into English was Herr der Diebe in 2002.^[9] It was subsequently released as The Thief Lord by Scholastic^[9] and made it to the number 2 spot on The New York Times Best Seller list.^[10] The fantasy novel Dragon Rider (2004) stayed on the New York Times Best Seller list for 78 weeks.^[11] Following the success of The Thief Lord and Dragon Rider, her next novel was Inkheart (2003), which won the 2004 BookSense Book of the Year Children's Literature award.^[12] Inkheart was the first part of a trilogy which was continued with Inkspell (2005), which won Funke her second BookSense Book of the Year Children's Literature award (2006).^[13] The trilogy was concluded in Inkdeath (published in Germany in 2007, English version Spring 2008, American version Fall 2008).

On writing

On her personal homepage, Funke states that the vital starting point for a good book is an "idea", and if that idea is worth it, to research on interesting topics which support the idea, and to search for appropriate places and characters.^[14] She said of ideas that "they come from everywhere and nowhere, from outside and inside. I have so many, I won't be able to write them down in one lifetime."^[15] The characters, Cornelia Funke elaborates, "Mostly they step into my writing room and are so much alive, that I ask myself, where did they come from. Of course, some of them are the result of hard thinking, adding characteristics, manners, etc., but others are alive from the first moment they appear", and pointed out that Dustfinger from "Inkheart" was one of the most vivid characters who ever popped into her mind.^[16] For aspiring authors, Funke says: "Read – and be curious. And if somebody says to you: 'Things are this way. You can't change it' - don't believe a word."^[17]

Personal life

Funke married printer Rolf Funke in 1981. Their daughter, Anna, was born in 1989 and their son, Ben, in 1994.^[7] The Funke family lived in Hamburg for 24 years,^[7] until they moved to Los Angeles in May 2005.^[18][19] In March 2006, Rolf Funke died of cancer.^[20]

Awards

• 1998 Kalbacher Klapperschlange for Drachenreiter (Dragon Rider)
• 2000 Wildweibchenpreis for her collected works
• 2000 La vache qui lit for Herr der Diebe (The Thief Lord)
• 2001 Kalbacher Klapperschlange for Herr der Diebe
• 2001 Preis der Jury der jungen Leser for Herr der Diebe
• 2002 Evangelischer Buchpreis for Herr der Diebe
• 2003 Corine for Herr der Diebe
• 2003 Mildred L. Batchelder Award for Herr der Diebe
• 2003 Nordstemmer Zuckerrübe for Kleiner Werwolf
• 2004 Preis der Jury der jungen Leser for Tintenherz (Inkheart)
• 2004 Phantastik-Preis der Stadt Wetzlar for Tintenherz
• 2004 Kalbacher Klapperschlange for Tintenherz
• 2004 Book Sense Children's Literature Award (Children's Literature Honor Books) for Inkheart
• 2006 Book Sense Book of the Year Children's Literature Winner for Inkspell
• 2008 Roswitha Prize

Cornelia Funke was voted into the Time magazine's list of the 100 most influential people of 2005. In 2006, Funke was awarded the Sakura Medal by the International Students of Japan in the Chapter Book category for her successful book, Dragon Rider.

Novels

• The Thief Lord (2000)
• Dragon Rider (2004)
• When Santa Fell to Earth (2006)
• Igraine The Brave (2007)
• Reckless (2010)
• Saving Mississippi (2010)

The Inkworld Trilogy

• Inkheart (2003)
• Inkspell (2006)
• Inkdeath (2008)

Ghosthunters

• Ghosthunters and the Incredibly Revolting Ghost (2006)
• Ghosthunters and the Gruesome Invincible Lightning Ghost (2006)
• Ghosthunters And the Totally Moldy Baroness! (2007)
• Ghosthunters And The Muddy Monster Of Doom! (2007))

Die Wilden Hühner / Wild Chicks

• Die Wilden Hühner, 1993
• Die Wilden Hühner auf Klassenfahrt, 1995
• Die Wilden Hühner - Fuchsalarm, 1998
• Die Wilden Hühner und das Glück der Erde, 2000
• Die Wilden Hühner und die Liebe, 2003
• Die Wilden Hühner - gestohlene Geheimnisse (CD-ROM), 2004
• Die Wilden Hühner und das Leben, 2007

Picture books

• The Princess Knight (2003)
• Pirate Girl (2005)
• The Wildest Brother (2006)
• Princess Pigsty (2007)

References

1. ^ "The World of Cornelia Funke". http://www.corneliafunke.de/en/questions/question-92.html. Retrieved 2008-09-05. 
2. ^ Therese Walsh (2006-11-10). "Interview:Cornelia Funke". Writer Unboxed. http://writerunboxed.com/2006/11/10/interview-cornelia-funke. Retrieved 2008-09-05. 
3. ^ "Many Happy Returns". Washington Post. 2006-01-04. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/03/AR2006010301219.html. Retrieved 2008-08-14. 
4. ^ "Books > Inkdeath". Amazon.co.uk. http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/203-9208681-8971968?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=inkdeath. Retrieved 2008-10-15. 
5. ^ Rogers, John (2008-11-03). "Cornelia Funke's books fill a world with fantasy". The Seattle Times. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/books/2008339315_corneliafunke03.html. 
6. ^ Encyclopedia of World Biography [1]:
7. ^ ^{a b c d} Cornelia Funke Biografie
8. ^ ^{a b} Cornelia Funke biography, Scholastic.com
9. ^ ^{a b} Encyclopedia of World Biography
10. ^ Scholastic
11. ^ Cornelia Funke
12. ^ BookSense Book of the Year Children's Literature
13. ^ The 2005 Time 100: Cornelia Funke
14. ^ How do you begin your writing process?
15. ^ How do you come up with all the ideas for your books?
16. ^ How do you come up with all the characters?
17. ^ What is your advice for aspiring authors?
18. ^ "Die einflußreichste Deutsche der Welt". Die Welt. 2005-04-15. http://www.welt.de/print-welt/article661155/Die_einflussreichste_Deutsche_der_Welt.html. Retrieved 17 January 2008. 
19. ^ Cornelia Funke's Website
20. ^ Cornelia Funke Biography

External links

• Official website
• Cornelia Funke at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database

Persondata
Name	Funke, Cornelia Caroline
Alternative names
Short description	Author
Date of birth	1958-12-10
Place of birth	Dorsten, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Date of death
Place of death