Nan A. Talese facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Nan A. Talese
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Talese in 2009
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| Born |
Nan Ahearn
December 19, 1933 United States
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| Occupation | Editor, publisher |
| Spouse(s) | |
| Children | 2 |
Nan Talese (born December 19, 1933) is an American editor and publisher who worked in the book publishing world for many years. She was a senior vice president at Doubleday. From 1990 until 2020, Nan Talese had her own special part of Doubleday called Nan A. Talese/Doubleday. Here, she helped publish books by famous writers like Pat Conroy and Ian McEwan. She retired in 2020 after a long and successful career.
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Early Life and Education
Nan Irene Ahearn Talese was born in 1933 in the United States. Her parents were Thomas J. and Suzanne Ahearn, and they lived in Rye, New York. Her father worked as a banker.
Nan Talese went to the Rye Country Day School and later graduated from the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Greenwich, Connecticut. She then continued her education at Manhattanville College, graduating in 1955. In 1959, while working at Random House, she married the writer Gay Talese.
A Career in Publishing
Nan Talese started her career at Random House. She began as a proofreader, which means she checked books for mistakes before they were printed. Later, she became the first female literary editor at Random House. This was a big step for women in publishing at the time.
After Random House, she worked at other well-known publishing companies like Simon & Schuster and Houghton Mifflin. Throughout her career, Nan Talese worked with many important authors. She helped edit books by writers such as Margaret Atwood, Jennifer Egan, and Thomas Keneally.
The Maxwell Perkins Award
In 2005, Nan Talese received a special honor called the Maxwell Perkins Award from the Center for Fiction. This award is given to editors, publishers, or agents who have done a great job finding, helping, and supporting fiction writers in the United States. It celebrates the legacy of Maxwell Perkins, who was a very important editor in American literature.
A Unique Book Publication
In 2006, Nan Talese published a very unusual book titled Useless America by author Jim Crace. This book was mostly made up of blank pages! It was inspired by a mistake on Amazon, where a book by Crace was listed before it even had a title. The title Useless America came from a line Crace had planned to use in another book. This unique book is now quite rare and valuable.
Personal Life
Nan Talese married the writer Gay Talese in 1959. They have two daughters together. Their daughter Pamela Talese is a painter, and their daughter Catherine Talese is a photographer and photo editor.
