German born, Cornelia Maria Funke, was born 10 December 1958, in Dorsten, North Rhine-Westphalia.

She studied pedagogy at university followed by working as a social worker with children from deprived backgrounds.

After a little illustrating work she started writing her own fantasy novels in the late 1980s - she was 28 when she wrote her first story.

Cornelia Funke is now Germany’s best selling children’s author and has sold well over 20 million copies of hers books many having been translated into from German into other languages.

Cornelia is not only a story teller and illustrator.

She has, also, set up an audio label and a foundation and she supports manifold projects.

On her website, Cornelia tries to write "about Cornelia".

I have by now written and illustrated mostly childrens’ books for more than 34 years (I know – you probably cannot even imagine to ever be that old!)

I still love it as much as when I began, maybe even more.

And I love to hear from my readers which luckily, thanks to this website, and social media and zoom events, is much easier nowadays than when I dreamt of being an astronaut.” - With very best wishes, Cornelia

Cornelia Funke's Official Website