Nov 13, 2017
Peter Kurth - noted author
AIDS Issues

PETER KURTH was born in Oklahoma in 1953. He is a graduate of the University of Vermont, where he earned departmental honors in English and Theatre. His first book, Anastasia: The Riddle of Anna Anderson, was an international bestseller and made into an NBC television miniseries. Kurth’s biography of anti-fascist journalist Dorothy Thompson, American Cassandra won the Frank Luther Mott-Kappa Tau Alpha Research Award as the best book about journalism of 1990.

In 1995-96 Kurth was the author of Tsar: The Lost World of Nicholas and Alexandra and co-author (with Eleanor Lanahan) of Zelda: An Intimate Portrait, a pictorial biography of Zelda Fitzgerald. His latest book was a biography of Isadora Duncan, Isadora: A Sensational Life.

 

In 1989 Kurth was diagnosed with HIV infection, an event that unavoidably changed his life and altered the direction of his writing. His commentary on AIDS issues has been heard on National Public Radio, and he was "Lazarus" columnist for POZ magazine. His work has appeared in a variety of national publications, including "Vanity Fair," "Condé Nast Traveler," "Forbes FYI," "The New York Times Book Review," "The New York Observer," "Cosmopolitan," and "Harper's Bazaar." He is a contributing writer for "Salon" and was “Crank Call” columnist for Vermont’s "Seven Days," for which he won an award for outstanding commentary from the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies.