Cornelia Funke and Her New Book Reckless

I'm in New York to attend Book Expo America, which starts today, and I couldn't resist coming a day early so I could attend the School Library Journal Day of Dialog for librarians. In the next week, I will be reporting on some of the sessions I attended. Our luncheon speaker yesterday was Cornelia Funke, the German author who became well-known in the United States with the publication of The Thief Lord and the Inkworld trilogy that began with Inkheart.

Funke, a witty and entertaining speaker, talked about the new fantasy world she has created with her upcoming book Reckless and read from the first chapter. The brief excerpt we heard was fascinating. The author said that before writing her own books she had been a social worker and, then, an illustrator. Cornelia Funke didn't like the books she was being asked to illustrate and began writing her own books.

Funke said that Reckless is the first of her books to fully combine both her writing and her illustrations. She also reported that her story was influenced by the fairy tales of the brothers Grimm that she grew up with. Reckless will be released on September 14, 2010. If you'd like to know more, listen to Cornelia Funke read from Reckless and discuss the book.