Elinor had read countless stories in which the main characters fell sick at some point because they were so unhappy. She had always thought that a very romantic idea, but she’d dismissed it as a pure invention of the world of books. All those wilting heroes and heroines who suddenly gave up the ghost just because of unrequited love or longing for something they’d lost! Elinor had always enjoyed their sufferings—as a reader will. After all, that was what you wanted from books: great emotions you’d never felt yourself, pain you could leave behind by closing the book if it got too bad. Death and destruction felt deliciously real conjured up with the right words, and you could leave them behind between the pages as you pleased, at no cost or risk to yourself.

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). 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
Cornelia Funke was voted into the Time magazine's list of the 100 most influential people of 2005. 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.

She was born on 10 December 1958 in Dorsten North Rhine-Westphalia. Many of her books have now been translated into English.