Kurt Andersen is author of the novel Turn of the Century (Random House, 1999; Delta, 2000), a New York Times Notable Book of 1999 that Times reviewers called "wickedly satirical" and "outrageously funny" and "the most un-clichéd novel imaginable," and that The Wall Street Journal called a "smart, funny and excruciatingly deft portrait of our age." He is now at work on his second novel.
Kurt Andersen began his career in journalism at Time, where he was an award-winning writer on national affairs and criminal justice, and then for eight years the magazine's architecture and design critic. Returning to Time in 1993 as editor-at-large, he wrote a weekly column on entertainment and media, and from 1996 through 1999 he was a cultural columnist for The New Yorker. His journalism and essays have also appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic Monthly, Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair and Architectural Record, among other publications.
Andersen was a co-founder of Inside.com, and editor-in-chief of both New York and Spy magazines, the latter of which he co-founded.
He is also the author of The Real Thing, a book of humorous essays. He has produced prime-time network television programs and pilots for NBC and ABC, and co-authored Loose Lips, an off-Broadway theatrical revue that had long runs in New York and Los Angeles.
Kurt Andersen graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College. He is a member of the board of trustees of the Pratt Institute and of the exhibition committee of the National Design Museum. He lives with his wife and daughters in New York City.
Kurt Andersen on KCRW
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