Photo by Cruccone.

Cornelia Funke, known for her novels like The Thief Lord, and Inkheart celebrates her birthday this past month (December 10th).

Funke was born in Germany but currently lives in California.

“I will try to write books until I drop dead.”

Cornelia has sold over 20 million novels internationally and has won quite a few awards for her stories. Most recently, she received the Roswitha Prize in 2008, which is for female authors of the German language.

“Oh, I think every author is inspired by all of the books that she reads.”