Cornelia Funke

Cornelia Funke is the New York Times bestselling author of the Inkheart trilogy, The Thief Lord and a whole host of popular children’s novels and picture books.

Born in 1958 in the German town of Dorsten, Cornelia initially worked as an illustrator but soon began writing her own stories, quickly establishing a reputation as one of Germany’s best-loved children’s authors.

Her international breakthrough came with the fantasy novel Dragon Rider, which spent 78 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. Success continued with the publication of The Thief Lord, which immediately climbed to the #2 spot on the New York Times bestseller list and stayed there for 19 weeks, selling 1.5 million copies.

Inkheart the movie, starring Brendan Fraser, Helen Mirren and Paul Bettany, was released in 2008.

Cornelia Funke now lives in Italy and is working on several new books.