Thursday, 13th November 2008

Authors and their favourites

This new subject is very especial for me. Due to this reason it was difficult to find the right way to  begin this story.

When my school-time started many years ago, the teacher had a lot of difficulties to introduce me to the secret of writing. Even my parents who tried to support the frustrated woman by training me at home, gave up hope soon. After some time it was an open secret: this girl would never be able to write and read. But as you can imagine: they were all wrong – I learned it. And soon I discovered the secret of the written words. No book was secure from my attack  and I indulged my new passion vehemently. And I found out that printed words impressed me much more than any picture or movie. That´s the reason why I admire writers and authors so much.

In the year 2002 my employer, the editorial department of a televison station, sent me to the "Corine", an international award ceremony for literature. The event took place in the Cuvilliés-Theatre in Munich.
At this occasion I had the pleasure to meet some of the famous writers like Paulo Coelho (The Alchimist), Waris Dirie (Desert Dawn) and Barbara Wood (Sacred Ground).

Well, naturally even writers have to eat and they have  favourite dishes, too. Aware of this I decided to  deliver a little insight into this privacy. So I contacted some of the famous authors asking them what kind of dishes they prefer.
This blog is very particular for me. I invite you to enjoy it together with me.

I am going to start with the bestseller author Barbara Wood (“Daughter of the Sun”, “The Blessing Stone”, “Sacred Ground”, “Perfect Harmony”, “The Prophetess”, “Virgins of Paradise”, “The Dreaming”, “Green City in the Sun”, “Soul Flame”, “Vital Signs”).
She did not reply only but sent me the recipe of her favourite dish, too.

Barbara Wood’s biography:
After High School, Barbara attended the University of California at Santa Barbara but left to train as a surgical technician. In 1976 she sold her first novel.  Barbara's research for her books extends far and wide. She has visited every country she has written about and in fact does not feel comfortable writing about a country that she has not walked on or breathed its air. 
 
Her mail:

And now her recipe:

At this place and occasion I thank her very much indeed.

As we are talking just now about international writers I would like to present you a second American writer and her favourite dish. I am talking about Tess Gerritsen (“The Surgeon”, “The Apprentice”, “The Sinner”, “Body Double”, “Harvest”, “Life Support”, “Bloodstream”, “Gravity”, “The Bone”).

Her biography:
Tess Gerritsen did not plan her carrier as writer. She received her M.D. at the University of California, San Francisco. While on maternity leave from her work as a physician, she began to write fiction. In 1987, her first novel was published. While working and living in Hawaii,  Tess Gerritsen submitted a short story to a statewide fiction contest. Her story won first place, and she subsequently left medical practice. “Call After Midnight”, a romantic thriller, was followed by more romantic suspense novels. Now retired from medicine, she writes full time – successfully, as we know.

And here her reply:

Thanks also to Tess!

Now we are coming to Kerstin Gier  a famous German writer. Kerstin Gier writes women’s novels like: („Die Mütter Mafia“, Die Patin“, „Männer und andere Katastrophen“, „Lügen, die von Herzen kommen“, „Ein unmoralisches Sonderangebot“, „Für jede Lösung ein Problem“).

Originally the profession of Kerstin Gier is an academically qualified teacher. Her first book "Männer und andere Katastrophen" was published in 1995. It was a big success and even a film was produced with Heike Makatsch in the leading part. But all the following novels were successes, too, and the novel: "Ein unmoralisches Sonderangebot" was assigned 2005 with the award “DeLiA” for the best German love novel.

Below you will find the letter:

Many thanks to Kerstin Gier and success for the future.

At the next I would like to introduce to you Cornelia Funke a very famous writer of books for children and young people („The Thief Lord “, “Dragon Rider”, “When Santa Fell to Earth”, “Igraine The Brave”, “Inkheart”, “Inkspell”, “Inkdeath”).
Cornelia Funke is a multiple award-winning German author of children's fiction.
After finishing her studies (“Education”), Funke worked as a social worker, focusing on children with a deprived background. Then she began illustrating books, but soon began writing her own stories, inspired by the sorts of stories that had appealed to the deprived children she had worked with.  Her international breakthrough came with “The Thief Lord” in 2000, which immediately climbed to the #2 position of the New York Times bestseller list.

I received a reply from her sister, Insa Funke:

Thank you, Cornelia and Insa Funke!

Last but not least we will talk about a man – Matthias Kringe.
Matthias Kringe started after his college as a caricaturist with the newspaper “Westfalenpost”.
Since 1982 he publishes the famous “Dilldappen-Calendar“ with comics in the native language of the “Siegerland”.
He draws comics, writes picture stories for "Pettersson & Findus"-children magazine of Panini-Dino and is responsible for the design of the licence products of Pettersson & Findus as well (f.e. puzzlebooks). He also works for the German MAD-Magazine, especially as designer of the magazine-covers.

Here his reply:

Thank you very much, Matthias Kringe!