Cornelia Funke

Cornelia Funke is a German author of children's fiction, born in Dorsten in North Rhine-Westphalia. She worked as a social worker before becoming a book illustrator, and she began writing novels in the late 1980s, mostly fantasy about children facing hard circumstances. Her best-known books include The Thief Lord, Dragon Rider, and the Inkheart series, which follows a bookbinder's daughter whose father can bring characters out of books by reading aloud. Time named Funke one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2005.