Cornelia Funke

Cornelia Funke

Cornelia Funke at 2008 Madrid book fair
Born (1958-12-10) 10 December 1958
Dorsten, Germany
Occupation Author
Genre Adventure, Fantasy
Notable works Inkheart trilogy
Spouse Rolf Frahm (1981–2006, his death)
Children Anna (1989)
Ben (1994)
Website
www.corneliafunke.com

Cornelia Maria Funke[1] (FOON-ka;[2] German: [ˈfʊŋkə]) is a German author of children's fiction. She was born on December 10, 1958, in Dorsten, North Rhine-Westphalia. Funke is best known for her Inkheart trilogy, published in 2004–2008. Many of her books have now been translated into English. Her work fits mainly into the fantasy and adventure genres. She currently lives in Beverly Hills, California.

Funke has sold over 20 million copies of her books worldwide.[3]

Biography

Cornelia Funke was born in 1958 in the town of Dorsten in Westphalia, Germany[4] 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.[5] 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.[6] She had a stint illustrating books, but soon began writing her own stories,[5] inspired by the sorts of stories that had appealed to the deprived children she had worked with.[6] 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.[7] It was subsequently released as The Thief Lord by Scholastic[7] and made it to the number 2 spot on The New York Times Best Seller list.[8] The fantasy novel Dragon Rider (2004) stayed on the New York Times Best Seller list for 78 weeks.[9] 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.[10] 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).[11] 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.[12]

In 2010, Cornelia released the first book in her MirrorWorld series, Reckless, with the sequel, Fearless, published in the US in April 2013.

On writing

On her personal homepage, Funke states that the vital starting point for a good book is an "idea".[13] 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."[14] 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.[15] 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."[16] Her social work has inspired the 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.[5] The family lived in Hamburg for 24 years,[5] until they moved to Beverly Hills in May 2005.[17][18] In March 2006, Rolf Frahm died of cancer.[19]

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

Inkheart trilogy

Ghosthunters

C.H.I.X.

Picture books

References

  1. ↑ "Cornelia". Cornelia Funke. Retrieved 3 March 2014.
  2. ↑ "Many Happy Returns". Washington Post. 2006-01-04. Retrieved 2008-08-14.
  3. ↑ Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung GmbH (8 October 2012). "Cornelia Funke: Prophetin im eigenen Land". FAZ.NET. Retrieved 8 November 2015.
  4. ↑ Encyclopedia of World Biography :
  5. 1 2 3 4 Luise Pusch. "Cornelia Funke". fembio.org. Retrieved 8 November 2015.
  6. 1 2 Cornelia Funke biography, Scholastic.com
  7. 1 2 "Cornelia Funke Biography". notablebiographies.com. Retrieved 8 November 2015.
  8. ↑ "Fantastic Fantasy by Cornelia Funke – Scholastic". scholastic.com. Retrieved 8 November 2015.
  9. ↑ "Deutschland.de". Deutschland.de. Retrieved 8 November 2015.
  10. ↑ BookSense Book of the Year Children's Literature Archived December 24, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
  11. ↑ "The 2005 TIME 100". TIME.com. Retrieved 8 November 2015.
  12. ↑ Inkheart at the Internet Movie Database/
  13. ↑ How do you begin your writing process?
  14. ↑ How do you come up with all the ideas for your books?
  15. ↑ How do you come up with all the characters?
  16. ↑ What is your advice for aspiring authors?
  17. ↑ "Die einflußreichste Deutsche der Welt". Die Welt. 2005-04-15. Retrieved 17 January 2008.
  18. ↑ Cornelia Funke's Website
  19. ↑ BookBrowse. "Cornelia Funke author biography". BookBrowse.com. Retrieved 8 November 2015.
  20. ↑ "Cornelia Funke". corneliafunke.com. Retrieved 8 November 2015.

External links

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