Ildikó von Kürthy

Ildikó von Kürthy is the daughter of Tamás Kürthy, a Hungarian-born university lecturer who taught pedagogy at RWTH Aachen University and a bookseller. She grew up in Aachen-Laurensberg. After graduating from the Kaiser Karls Gymnasium in Aachen, she attended the Henri Nannen School of Journalism in Hamburg. She then worked for the women's magazine Brigitte. In 1993 she was awarded the Axel Springer Prize in the "Press" category for her article Hier stirbt niemand einsam on the hospice "Haus Hörn" in Aachen. In 1994, the article was awarded second place in the Media Prize of the Free Welfare Service. From 1996 to 2005, Ildikó von Kürthy was editor in the "Culture and Entertainment" department of Stern magazine.

In 1999, she published her first book, the novel Mondscheintarif, which was made into a film in 2001 under the direction of Ralf Huettner. The total circulation of her eight books, which have been translated into approximately 30 languages, is more than six million. The heroines of her humorous novels are modern young women who describe their own weaknesses with wit and self-irony and contemplate the misfortunes of dealing with men. Her novel Der Freischütz, published in 2003, won third place at the first DeLiA literary prize in 2004; which she shared with two other authors. In August 2012, her book Under the Heart: Views of a Newborn Mother was published, which offers humorous insights into the life of an expectant mother. In March 2016, her first play, Liebeslügen oder Treue ist auch keine Lösung, was premiered at the Ernst-German-Theater in Hamburg. Her book Morgen kann kommen (Tomorrow May Come) was ranked 23rd on the bestseller list of the Association of German Publishers and Booksellers for 2022.

In December 2007, she hosted two episodes of the RBB talk show Dickes B with Jörg Thadeusz. Since 2009 she has been a regular columnist for Brigitte magazine. Since 2007 she has also been a member of the jury of the "Print" Axel Springer Award.

Ildikó von Kürthy lives in Hamburg with her husband, freelance writer and journalist Sven Michaelsen, who also worked for Stern for more than 20 years. She is the mother of two sons, who were born in 2006 and 2010.