(DLA Las Piñas GS LRC) November Author of the Month - Cornelia Funke

Cornelia Caroline Funke (pronounced [ˈfʊŋkə], FOON-kuh) is a multiple award-winning German author of children's fiction.

She is best known for her Inkheart trilogy, with the English translation of the third book, Inkdeath, released on 6 October 2008.

Many of her books have now been translated into English. Her work fits mainly into the fantasy and adventure genres.

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

Cornelia was born on 10 December 1958, in Dorsten, North Rhine-Westphalia 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 (science and art of education) 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 (Wild Chicks) line of books.

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

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).

Cornelia Funke was voted into the Time magazine's list of the 100 most influential people of 2005. In March 2006, her husband, Rolf, died of cancer. Also 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.

The Inkheart trilogy was concluded in Inkdeath (published in Germany in 2007, English version Spring 2008, American version Fall 2008).

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

She has received tons of awards for her work:

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