Michael Ende; German Children’s Novelist

Michael Ende, 65, German children’s novelist best known for the fantasy “The Neverending Story.” The novel, published in Germany in 1979, detailed the travels of a solitary 10-year-old boy, Bastian, who finds himself visiting all the fantastic places he reads about in a book. Ende’s tale became a bestseller in 27 countries, including the United States, when it was published in English in 1983, and was made into a film in 1984 and a sequel, “The Neverending Story 2,” in 1991. Born in the alpine town of Garmisch-Partenkirschen, Ende deserted from the Army after he was drafted in 1945. He worked as an actor and a playwright before publishing his first children’s book in 1960, “Jim Knopf and Lukas the Locomotive Engineer,” which won Germany’s Children’s Book Award. Discouraged by being labeled an escapist writer, Ende moved to Italy in the 1970s, where he wrote “The Neverending Story” and another internationally popular work, “Momo,” which was published in German in 1973 and in English in 1985. On Monday in Stuttgart, Germany, of cancer.