Cornelia Funke is a talented German writer of children’s literature, known for her fantasy genre and compared to JK Rowling. Her popular works include Dragon Rider, The Thief Lord, and the Inkheart series. She has received numerous awards and her stories often feature intelligent children in challenging situations. Funke moved to the United States in 2005 with her family, including a tortoise and dog.
Cornelia Funke is in many ways one of the most talented writers of children’s literature today. Although she has not yet come close to JK Rowling’s popularity, many of her works are considered to be almost on par with the Harry Potter series, and has sometimes been called the German answer to JK Rowling. Gifted with writing and illustrating books in the fantasy genre, Funke became even better known to American audiences in 2008 with the release of the film, Inkheart, based on one of her most popular series of hers.
Cornelia Funke was born on December 10, 1958 in West Germany and after graduating from university she embarked on a career in social work. After working briefly as an illustrator, she began creating her own work, with her two book series titled Ghosthunters and Wild Chicks. While these books were popular in her native country, it was her 1996 novel Dragon Rider that garnered his international attention several years later.
Dragon Rider was followed by the successful work The Thief Lord. Both novels made the New York Times bestseller list. Subsequent novels included the three-volume series Inkheart, Inkheart, Inkspell and Inkdeath. More recent works include Igraine the Brave.
Fans of Cornelia Funke’s works love to visit her website, where her biography is less detailed than inspiring. She says that one reason for writing books was that she wanted to write work that she would enjoy illustrating. She also notes a lifelong interest in education and she confesses an addiction to both books and movies.
Funke’s work can certainly be considered a boon to children’s literature, and he has received numerous honors and awards for his books. These include an award in 2004 for Inkspell as the Book Sense Children’s Literature Award and the Rosawitha Prize, Germany’s oldest and most highly regarded literary award. The Rosawitha Prize is awarded exclusively to exceptional female authors.
Many of Cornelia Funke’s stories feature highly intelligent children with a great love of reading. Some have traced her style to her, which seems somewhat different from traditional American and British children’s literature to the German Gothic tradition. In addition, she often puts children in situations where they often have to take care of themselves and possess extraordinary know-how and wit.
Although Cornelia Funke grew up in Germany, she, her two children and her husband Rolf moved to the United States in 2005. Rolf sadly died in 2006. On her website, Funke describes their family in Los Angeles, which she shares with a female tortoise named Hercules and a “crazy” dog named Luna. English speakers may be interested in pronouncing her name correctly. It should be said “Foon-ka” instead of pronouncing it like the English word “funk”.
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