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Judith Thurman

ジュディス・サーマン

Judith Thurman

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1946-01-01 （New York City, U.S.）
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Residence History
New York City → Europe (about 5 years)

Career

Occupations
Writer, Biographer, Critic
Active Years
1972-2025
Nominations
Pulitzer Prize (Finalist, 1999), National Book Award (Finalist, 1999)

Education

Brandeis University
Degree: Bachelor's
Period: 1963–1967
Year of Graduation: 1967
Country: United States

Awards

National Book Award for Nonfiction
1983
Work: Isak Dinesen: The Life of a Storyteller
Organization: National Book Foundation
Result: Won
Salon Book Award (Biography)
1999
Work: Secrets of the Flesh: A Life of Colette
Organization: Salon
Result: Won
Los Angeles Times Book Prize (Biography)
1999
Work: Secrets of the Flesh: A Life of Colette
Organization: Los Angeles Times
Result: Won
Harold G. Vursell Award (for prose style)
Organization: American Academy of Arts and Letters
Result: Won
Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
2016
Organization: Government of France
Result: Won
Rungstedlund Award
Organization: Karen Blixen Museum
Result: Won
PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay
2022
Organization: PEN America
Result: Won
Bard College Mary McCarthy Prize for a Woman Writer's Life Work
Organization: Bard College
Result: Won

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Putting My Coat On

1972 Poetry

An early collection of poems, published by Covent Garden Press in London.

inner lifelanguage and perception

Isak Dinesen: The Life of a Storyteller

1982 Biography

A detailed biography of Karen Blixen (Isak Dinesen). It won the 1983 National Book Award for Nonfiction and served as a basis for the film Out of Africa; Thurman served as an associate producer on the film.

biographylife of a writercolonialism and culture
Adaptations
  • [Film] Out of Africa / Sydney Pollack (1985)

Secrets of the Flesh: A Life of Colette

1999 Biography 624 pages

A major biography of the French writer Colette, situating her morally subversive life in the social milieu of early-20th-century Paris. The book was a finalist for the 1999 National Book Award and won other biography prizes.

women writersdesire and sexualityart and society

Cleopatra's Nose: 39 Varieties of Desire

2007 Essay collection

A collection of essays (many from The New Yorker) on style, desire, and cultural criticism.

styledesirecultural criticism

A Left-Handed Woman

2022 Essay collection

A 2022 collection of essays that brings together lives of various left-handed women, ranging from historical figures to contemporary subjects.

women's historymicro-biographyfeminism

Bibliography

  • Putting My Coat On (1972)
  • I Became Alone (1975)
  • Flashlight and Other Poems (1977)
  • Isak Dinesen: The Life of a Storyteller (1982)
  • Secrets of the Flesh: A Life of Colette (1999)
  • Cleopatra's Nose: 39 Varieties of Desire (2007)
  • A Left-Handed Woman (2022)

Adaptations

  • Out of Africa (film, 1985) — based in part on material about Isak Dinesen; Thurman served as associate producer

Style & Themes

Literary Style
luminous, carefully wrought prosebiographical insight combined with cultural criticism
Recurring Motifs
lives of women writersdesire and embodimentstyle and expression

Legacy

Judith Thurman is known for richly styled biographies and cultural criticism. A National Book Award winner and long-time New Yorker staff writer, she has influenced contemporary literary biography and essay writing.

Academic Societies

  • American Academy of Arts and Letters (award recipient)

Archives

  • Library of Congress (authority record)
  • Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF) data

Trivia

  • Won the 1983 National Book Award for Nonfiction for Isak Dinesen: The Life of a Storyteller.
  • Secrets of the Flesh: A Life of Colette was a finalist for the 1999 National Book Award.
  • Served as an associate producer on the film Out of Africa (1985) related to her Dinesen research.
  • Long-time staff writer for The New Yorker.