Gay Talese can’t name a single female author he admires

Celebrated journalist Gay Talese can’t name a single female non-fiction writer he admires.

At a journalism conference Saturday at Boston University, Talese took audience questions after a keynote conversation. The 84-year-old journalist, whose 1966 Esquire piece, “Frank Sinatra Has a Cold,” is held up as a legendary example of magazine writing and New Journalism, was asked which female non-fiction writers have inspired him.

After a pause, Talese said he “didn’t know any women writers that I loved,” and rejected a shouted audience suggestion of Joan Didion.

He said that he finds “educated women” tend to be uncomfortable or unwilling to speak with “anti-social” or “uneducated” characters.

Many members of the audience left the presentation after these comments. The presentation was already running beyond its scheduled time, but social media showed that the looming lunch break was not the primary reason for the early exits.

The reaction to Talese’s comments on Twitter was immediate, with many quick to call out female journalists, past and present, who had reported on just those unsavory characters Talese said women didn’t report on.