Roger Kuperways
From Chocolate to Philosopher
Born in hiding in Voiron, near Grenoble, in 1944, Roger Kuperways is a Holocaust survivor who was raised in Paris, came of age in the ateliers of haute couture, immigrated alone to New York at seventeen with twelve dollars and no English, built a fashion label carried by major department stores, and later reinvented himself as a professor at New York University.
From Chocolate to Philosopher tells that journey—a life shaped by craft, survival, loss, reinvention, and the quiet art of beginning again.
Query letter, synopsis, and sample pages available below. Complete manuscript available upon request.
Javits Center, New York
From Chocolate to Philosopher
From postwar Paris to New York’s Garment District, from couture ateliers to university lecture halls, this memoir traces a life shaped by survival, reinvention, immigration, ambition, and the discipline of beginning again.
More than fifty years later, Roger Kuper garments still circulate as sought-after vintage pieces—a quiet afterlife echoing the book’s deeper themes of endurance, identity, and reinvention.
Materials for Literary Agents
About Roger
Roger Kuperways is a Holocaust survivor, born in hiding in Voiron, near Grenoble, in 1944 and raised in Paris. His life spans couture ateliers, New York’s Garment District, and nearly three decades teaching entrepreneurship and philosophy at New York University.
His designs were carried by major retailers including Bergdorf Goodman and Saks Fifth Avenue, with distribution across the United States and abroad. He later transitioned into academia, teaching entrepreneurship and philosophy at New York University for twenty-seven years.
Now Professor Emeritus, he continues to mentor, lecture, and teach Argentine tango.
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