Every reader knows about the feeling that characters in books seem more real than real people.

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.