Kaz Cooke is a journalist who writes books and columns, draws cartoons and is often on the Radio. Readers of all ages (except the ones who are 43) love her funny and sensible takes on everything from starting puberty to menopause, and from fashion disasters to self esteem, pregnancy, and New Age madness. Her best-known books are Up the Duff: The Real Guide to Pregnancy; Kidwrangling; Caring For the 0 to 5s; Girl Stuff: Your Full on Guide to the Teen Years, and the forthcoming Women's Stuff.

Unlike many other authors, who write their own short biographies, she does not live in a tumble-down country estate with her mysterious model-airline pilot husband and ludicrously artistic children while dividing her time between New York, the Amalfi coast and Tuscany. Nor is she swanning about in a whisper-thin satin gown (cut on the bias) having an affaire with William Powell in 1934. And one day, by jingo, she might do something about it.