Who wrote the fantasy novel The Neverending Story?

Michael Ende wrote the fantasy novel The Neverending Story.

The German author’s novel was first published in 1979 under the title Die unendliche Geschichte. Its story follows Bastian Balthazar Bux, a boy who reads a mysterious book and becomes connected with the fantastical world of Fantastica. The novel explores reading, imagination, identity, and the consequences of wishing.

The book is often associated with the 1984 film directed by Wolfgang Petersen, but the novel and film are not identical. The film adapts mainly the earlier portion of Ende’s story and uses some different emphases and details. Ende publicly criticized the adaptation and asked for his name to be removed from its opening credits.

A common mix-up is confusing Michael Ende with the film’s director or with other German-language fantasy writers. Ende also wrote Momo, another major work of twentieth-century children’s literature. The novel’s title is sometimes printed with “The” at the beginning in English editions, but the author remains Michael Ende.