Kathi Diamant

Website : http://kathidiamant.com
Residence : San Diego, CA

Biographical information
Kathi Diamant is an award-winning author, actress, television talk show host and adjunct professor at San Diego State University. The founder/director of the Kafka Project at SDSU since 1998, Kathi has led the official search for a lost literary treasure, the missing papers of Franz Kafka, stolen by the Gestapo in 1933. Ms. Diamant's first book, Kafka's Last Love: The Mystery of Dora Diamant, is result of almost two decades of in-depth immersion research into the unknown life of the remarkable Eastern European woman at the side of the literary genius Franz Kafka at his death. Published in the United States and United Kingdom in 2003, the book has been internationally and critically acclaimed for the author's original research and illuminating revelations into both Dora's and Kafka's lives. The Sunday Herald (Scotland) named Kafka's Last Love one of the "Best Biographies of the Year." Kathi Diamant received the Geisel Award, "The Best of the Best" at the San Diego Book Awards on May 23, 2004. The paperback editions will be published in late summer (Basic Books, Sept 6, 2004; Vintage, August 5, 2004) and in translation in Germany and Spain in 2005. Ms. Diamant's television career includes stints as producer and co-host at three network affiliates in North Carolina and California, including KFMB-TV's popular live morning talk show, Sun Up San Diego, for which she received an Emmy award for Outstanding Performer in 1985. Kathi has appeared in dozens of leading film and stage roles. As a freelance journalist, she has written more than 500 newspaper and magazine articles on travel, arts and culture, natural history and lifestyle. Diamant is married to actor/writer Byron La Due and lives in San Diego, California.

Discussion topics

• Kafka's Last Love, or Finding Dora, Getting Kafka: The remarkable story of the search for Dora Diamant, the mysterious woman known only as the last mistress of literary genius Franz Kafka. A user-friendly introduction to Franz Kafka, one of the most important writers of the 20th century, using his aphorisms to illuminate the author's search for Dora. .
• The Kafka Project: The Joys and Sorrows of Reclaiming Holocaust-Era Assets: The account of a modern-day treasure hunt detailing the difficulties, joys and rewards of research into the loss of a literary treasure confiscated by the Gestapo in Berlin 1933, and the author's efforts, working with the German government, to recover them.
• On Becoming a Published Author: If I Did It, You Can Too! From television talk show host to freelance writer and biographer, the author of Kafka's Last Love chronicles the process of becoming a published author. Encourages aspiring writers to continue pursuing their goals and dreams, using the obstacles they encounter as stepping stones.

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