welcome

Gay Talese is the bestselling author of eleven books. He was a reporter for the New York Times from 1956 to 1965, and since then he has written for the Times, Esquire, The New Yorker, Harper's Magazine, and other national publications.

Gay Talese was born in Ocean City, New Jersey, and currently lives in New York City. His groundbreaking article "Frank Sinatra Has a Cold" was named the "best story Esquire ever published," and he was credited by Tom Wolfe with the creation of an inventive form of nonfiction writing called "The New Journalism."

His most recent book is A Writer's Life, which was published by Knopf in 2006 and will be reissued in trade paperback by The Random House Publishing Group in July 2007.

recent news

Gay Talese has just published an article in Vanity Fair about the decline of the intimate craft of men's custom tailoring.

Gay Talese has published an article in the New York Observer about the last day of the New York Times building at 229 West 43rd Street.

Gay Talese has published an article in Newsweek about the children of the famous Mafia chieftan Joseph Bonanno.

A Writer's Life was released in trade paperback by The Random House Publishing Group on July 10, 2007.

Podcast: CUNYradio, Gay Talese: Father of The New Journalism, June 5, 2007
In an engrossing talk, as part of the Kingsborough Community College's Bestselling Author Series, Gay Talese explains the importance of in-person interviews and why his researching style continues to work for him. (n.b.: requires Quicktime)

Video Interview: New York 1, One on 1: Literary Giant Gay Talese, October 24, 2006
In a New York 1 interview with Budd Mishkin, Gay Talese recounts some of his experiences in his fifty years of writing. (n.b.: requires RealOne Player)

Click here for print quality images of Gay Talese

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A Writer's Life

The inner workings of a writer's life, the interplay between experience and writing, are brilliantly recounted by a master of the art. Gay Talese now focuses on his own life — the zeal for the truth, the narrative edge, the sometimes startling precision, that won accolades for his journalism and acclaim for his revelatory books. Candid, humorous, deeply impassioned — A Writer's Life is a dazzling book about the nature of writing in one man's life, and of writing itself.

Click here to read the complete first chapter (flash required)