Publisher

Nan Ahearn Talese, as senior vice president of Doubleday Books and president, publisher and editorial director of Nan A. Talese books at that company, has an eye for spotting talent. 

She is the publisher of authors such as Pat Conroy, Margaret Atwood, and Booker Prize winners Thomas Keneally, Barry Unsworth and Ben Okri. Among the highly successful titles she has published are Beach Music by Pat Conroy and How the Irish Saved Civilization by Thomas Cahill. In 1995, four Nan Talese titles were named as Best Books of the Year by Publishers Weekly, the industry’s bible. Many of the books she has published have been adapted for the movies: Schindler’s List by Thomas Keneally, The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy, and The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood. 

Before joining Doubleday Books, Nan Ahearn Talese was publisher and editor in chief of Houghton Mifflin’s Adult Trade Division, and also worked as a senior editor at Simon &Schuster and at Random House. 

Nan Ahearn Talese lives with her husband, the author Gay Talese, and their two daughters in New York City.