Irma Kurtz (born September 3, 1935) is an American-born UK-based writer and

agony aunt An advice column is a column in a question and answer format. Typically, a (usually anonymous) reader writes to the media outlet with a problem in the form of a question, and the media outlet provides an answer or response. The responses are wr ...

. She has worked in that capacity for ''

Cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan may refer to: Food and drink * Cosmopolitan (cocktail), also known as a "Cosmo" History * Rootless cosmopolitan, a Soviet derogatory epithet during Joseph Stalin's anti-Semitic campaign of 1949–1953 Hotels and resorts * Cosmopoli ...

'' magazine for over 40 years. She lives in London's King’s Cross.

Early life

Kurtz was born in New Jersey in 1935, and grew up in

Jersey City, New Jersey Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark. Her father was a dentist. She has a bachelor's degree in English literature from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

Career

Journalism

After university, Kurtz undertook the

Study Abroad International students, or foreign students, are students who undertake all or part of their tertiary education in a country other than their own and move to that country for the purpose of studying. In 2019, there were over 6 million internati ...

program traveling to Europe in 1954 as an 18-year-old on the ''

Castel Felice ''Castel Felice'' was a Sitmar Cruises, SITMAR (Società Italiana Trasporti Marittima) Line Ocean Liner, liner. History The ''Castel Felice'', as she was eventually named, was built in Glasgow by Alexander Stephen & Sons in 1930 for the Briti ...

'', an episode she recounts in ''Then Again : Travels in Search of My Younger Self''. She returned and worked as a journalist, travelling in Europe and living in Paris, before settling in London. She worked for ''

Nova A nova (plural novae or novas) is a transient astronomical event that causes the sudden appearance of a bright, apparently "new" star (hence the name "nova", which is Latin for "new") that slowly fades over weeks or months. Causes of the dramati ...

'' magazine from its beginning in 1965, and joined ''Cosmopolitan'' in the United Kingdom in 1972. Kurtz also wrote for the American edition for 10 years. Kurtz has written three self-help books, two novels and three travel books.

Television

Kurtz was the writer and presenter of ''Mediterranean Tales'', a 10-part series for

BBC4 BBC Four is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

Bibliography

* ''Grand Dragon'' (1981) * ''Loneliness'' (1983) * ''Beds of Nails and Roses'' (1983) * ''The Great American Bus Ride'' (1993) * ''Dear London'' (1998) * ''My Life in Agony: Confessions of a Professional Agony Aunt'' (2014)

Personal life

She has a son, Marc, a television director, who is married with four children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kurtz, Irma 1935 births Living people 20th-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers American advice columnists Jewish advice columnists American women columnists Jewish American journalists American women journalists Writers from London Writers from Jersey City, New Jersey 21st-century American Jews