An American writer and producer, she is one of the most prestigious names of “The New Yorker”. Since 1987 she has written about literature, culture and fashion and is a thorough scholar of personalities who have marked the twentieth century. In 1983 she won the National Book Award for non-fiction with Isak Dinesen: The Life of a Storyteller, a biography dedicated to Karen Blixen who inspired the film Out of Africa, directed by Sydney Pollack, winner of seven Academy Awards (of which Thurman was also an associate producer). With the biography Secrets of the Flesh: A Life of Colette (1999) she was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Award for Biography. Many of her works are dedicated to leading figures from the worlds of literature (from Flaubert to Margaret Fuller), fashion (Yves Saint-Laurent, Chanel, Balenciaga, Rei Kawakubo, Alexander McQueen), art and photography (Marina Abramovic, Vanessa Beecroft, Diane Arbus). She has received numerous literary awards such as the Rungstedlund Prize and the Harold D. Vursell Memorial Award by the American Academy of Arts and Letters.