Cornelia Funke

Biography

Cornelia Funke was born in 1958 in the town of Dorsten in Westphalia, Germany 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. 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. She had a stint illustrating books, but soon began writing her own stories, inspired by the sorts of stories that had appealed to the deprived children she had worked with. 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 (C.H.I.X.) 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. It was subsequently released as The Thief Lord by Scholastic and made it to the number 2 spot on The New York Times Best Seller list. The fantasy novel Dragon Rider (2004) stayed on the New York Times Best Seller list for 78 weeks. 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. 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). The trilogy was concluded in Inkdeath (published in Germany in 2007, English version Spring 2008, American version Fall 2008). Cornelia's fans are sometimes referred to as Funkies.

Funke also worked as a producer on the film adaptation of Inkheart.

In 2010, Cornelia released the first book in her MirrorWorld series, Reckless, with the sequel, Fearless, published in the US in April 2013. In 2015, the film Ghosthunters on Icy Trails (German original title: "Gespensterjäger") was released in Germany on April 2, 2015.

On writing

On her personal homepage, Funke states that the vital starting point for a good book is an "idea". 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." 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. 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." Her social work has inspired her way in which she deals with the themes in her literature. In The Thief Lord, she shows children being in a difficult situation, but also still being children. Scipio says once that he is a good thief because he is small. She is willing to celebrate children for their own strengths, not just their ability to act like adults.

Personal life

Funke married printer Rolf Frahm in 1981. Their daughter, Anna, was born in 1989 and their son, Ben, in 1994. The family lived in Hamburg for 24 years, until they moved to Beverly Hills in May 2005. In March 2006, Rolf Frahm died of cancer.

Awards

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

MirrorWorld series

best known Inkheart trilogy

Ghosthunters

C.H.I.X.

Picture books