'Sin creates [ an inclination ] to sin; it engenders vice by repetition of the same acts. This results in perverse inclinations which cloud conscience and corrupt the concrete judgement of good and evil. Thus sin tends to reproduce itself and reinforce itself, but it cannot destroy the moral sense at its root.'

-- Para. 1865, Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1994.

Rudolf trained as a medical doctor in Germany, graduating in 1978, then relocated to New York City to study at the Art Students` League forsix months in 1980. In 1983 he married and moved to the Orangeville (Ontario) area.

Rudolf was elected to the Ontario Society of Artists in 1994 which led to exhibitions at Painted City and J. Alfred Prufrock in Toronto, Circle Arts in Tobermory and Gallery House Sol in Georgetown. He also exhibits each year in Toronto at the One of a Kind Show and the Toronto Outdoors Art Exhibition.

Rudolf`s carefully detailed, often bizarre and darkly humorous etchings and paintings are inspired by surrealism and the art of Medieval and Renaissance Northern Europe. A children`s book, The Rats Came Back, (Annick Press), was shortlisted for the Mr Christie Book Award (1995).

Rudolf Kurz's profile page

Elizabeth Kurz is Rudolf's daughter and co-conspirator. She was sixteen years old at the time of writing An Alphabet for the Illiterate.

Elizabeth attended high school in the Orangeville area. She enjoys listening to the Velvet Underground, reading Daniel Clowes, and watching films about drug abuse. She hopes to pursue a career in the publishing business, or else travel in a caravan through the dark forests of Transylvania reading tarot cards and playing tambourines around bonfires.

Elizabeth Kurz's profile page

'An Illustrated Alphabet for the Illiterate is a fun little book that is playfully written by a talented author and his talented daughter. The glimpses of stories on each page may not deliver a moral or a point, in fact, many seem to hardly even make sense. But they do make sense, if only in that they simply celebrate the experience of writing. And in turn, they encourage Kurz's ever present theme of perception. This book won't teach you how to lose weight, make a million dollars, or become a better person, it won't even teach you how to spell correctly. The authors of the book don't make any claims or promises, and in failing to do so, are able to offer a book that reminds its readers of writing's most important purpose: to entertain.'

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