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Gay Talese talks about his writing life and his reading and writing habits with Peter Slen of C-SPAN. This interview took place at his home in New York City. Watch the full interview here. (May 2017)

Interview with Gay Talese by CBS correspondent, Rita Braver: a seven-minute profile on Gay Talese and also refers to Nan, his wife, and other matters. CBS Sunday Morning (February 2017)

Legendary journalist Gay Talese on unlocking the potential of the 'ordinary' Salon.com (February 2017)

"Why We Need To Break Up With The Washington Press Corps" Journalists today don't report like they used to, and they sure as hell don't dress like they used to either. Gay Talese, a defining figure in literary journalism, here reconstructs the mentality of journalists in the 1950s, when his career began (January 2017)

GQ Style Editor-in-Chief Will Welch sits down with Talese in the writer's New York City townhouse to talk clothes, writing, and life.

Watch and learn the difference between merely wearing nice clothes—and truly being a great man of style.


GQ Interview

Talese speaks with host Alec Baldwin on WNYC's "Here's the Thing." (May 26, 2015)


Gay Talese reflects on how events in Selma, Ala., affected race relations in the United States. (March 2015)


In the Extraordinary Lives series at The Graduate Center, Gay Talese discusses his legendary career with William P. Kelly, interim chancellor of the City University of New York. (November 2013)



Lea Thau interviews Gay Talese on her KCRW show "Strangers." (May 9, 2013)


Gay Talese discusses the significance of The Boxer at Rest, an ancient masterpiece housed in the National Museum of Rome, for Eni Video. (July 2013)


Continuity from Particle Media on Vimeo.


For The New Yorker's Page-Turner blog, Gay Talese gives a tour of his bunker, explains his writing process, and reflects on why he became a "man of record."



Gay Talese sits down with Dan Rather for an in-depth look at how he continues to create profiles for major publications that are just as vibrant and fresh as the stories he produced nearly 50 years ago. Examining the role of changing technology in journalism, Talese shows viewers his unique techniques for writing a profile. (April 17, 2012)



The web series "Put this On" features an interview with Gay Talese, one of the world's most elegant men. (July 25, 2011)




A clip from Gay Talese's interview with Charlie Rose about the documentary Page One: Inside the New York Times. Full video here. (June 27, 2011)




Gay Talese discusses his nonfiction book "Unto The Sons" on Charlie Rose 2/14/1992



Gay Talese discusses the art of the profile, drawing examples from his newest piece in The New Yorker about opera singer Marina Poplavskaya, as well as his classic Esquire essay "Frank Sinatra Has a Cold," with Adam Harrison Levy at the D-Crit department at the School of Visual Arts. (November 29, 2010)



Gay Talese discusses his illustrious career in this video by BigThink.com. Read the full transcript here.

(September 28, 2009)

Gay Talese discusses the writers who inspired him in a video entitled Looking For Hemingway. (August 2009)




Gay Talese opens up to Men.Style.com about his unrivaled passion for the art of tailoring. (May 2009)



Gay Talese speaks at Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego with the journalism faculty's Dean Nelson while on a book tour for A Writer's Life. (February 7, 2008)



Gay Talese talks with Allan Gregg of TVO, Toronto's public television station. (December 2006)



selected interviews

Jocks & Nerds, Summer 2014

Interview: "Gay Talese's Favroite Martini Joint" The New York Post an interview by Michael Kaplan (February 2017)

Interview: "Gay Talese Has a Cold Beer" Village Voice, Joshua David Stein (January 2017)

Profile:Legendary Reporter Gay Talese explains why he finds Trump inspiring" Haaretz Magazine, Moran Sharir (February 2017)

Interview: Article in The Real Deal "Raising a Glass with Gay Talese," pg 24 bty Christopher Cameron. (Mar/Apr 2016)

Interview: Gay Talese, "Style Icon," article by Derrell Hartman in Village Voice's special-issue magazine "Sheer". (Spring 2016)

Interview: Pallet magazine's premier issue feature, "The Last Call" with Gay Talese, by Rich Bannister. (Nov 2015)

Interview: Vanity Fair profile--"What You Should Know About Gay Talese," by Lesley M. Blume (June 2014)

Interview: In their cover story, Jocks & Nerds interviews Gay Talese about his long career as a non-fiction writer. (Summer 2014)

Interview: Fifty years later, Gay Talese reminisces about the construction of the Verrazano Bridge with the New York Times. (July 1, 2014)

Interview: Lesley M. M. Blume profiles Gay Talese for Vanity Fair's "In the Details" feature. (June, 2014)

Interview: Gay Talese talks about Roger Sterling, Mad Men, and the Sexual Revolution with New York Magazine's Vulture blog. (April 14, 2014)

Interview: Longform Podcast's Max Linsky speaks with Gay Talese in a wide-ranging interview at NYU’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute. (October 17, 2013)

Interview: Gay Talese produces an annotated version of "Frank Sinatra Has a Cold," his seminal piece for Esquire, with Elon Green at Nieman Storyboard. (October 8, 2013)

Interview: City & State Managing Editor Jon Lentz interviews Gay Talese about the colorful field of candidates vying to succeed Mayor Michael Bloomberg. (September 10, 2013)

Article: In the 20th Anniversary issue of Cigar Aficionado, writer Mervyn Rothstein offers a follow-up to an article Talese wrote twenty years prior in the magazine's premier issue. (October 2012)

2012 © Darryl Estrine

Interview: The Oxford American asks Gay Talese, "What did you learn on the streets that you didn't learn in journalism school?" (August 27, 2012)

Article: In "Just for Kicks," Gay Talese speaks with Steve Garbarino of The Wall Street Journal about his shoe obsession. (June 30, 2012)

Profile: In "Icon: Gay Talese," the man who penned the first chapter of New Journalsm tells British GQ's Andrew Anthony about a life that's stranger than fiction. (August 2012)

Interview: Gay Talese discusses his eye for detail with Park & Bond. Includes a photo slideshow. (June 2012)

Interview: Ryan Kohls interviews Gay Talese. (March 3, 2012)

Interview: The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard hosted Gay Talese in conversation with Esquire's Chris Jones as part of their speaker series. Click here to read a transcript of the talk. (November 18, 2011)

Article: The Harvard Crimson covers Gay Talese's November 2011 lecture at Harvard's Boylston Hall.

Video: Charlie Rose interviews Gay Talese, David Carr, and Brian Stelter about the documentary Page One: Inside the New York Times. (June 27, 2010)

Interview: Gay Talese catalogues his daily media diet for The Atlantic Wire. (June 24, 2011)

Interview: Gay Talese sounds off to Vanity Fair on The New York Times — past, present, and future. (June 13, 2011)

2009 © Mary Ellen Mark

Interview: Gay Talese talks to GQ.com about Brioni suits, custom shoes and "dressing up for the story." (June 1, 2011)

Article: Katie Roiphe recounts her trip to the opera with Gay Talese in the Financial Times. (January 14, 2011)

Interview: Talese is interviewed by Illinois' The News-Gazette about receiving the Illinois Prize for Lifetime Achievement in Journalism. "The quick, bottom-line, shortcutting form of journalism we now see on the Internet, which isn't journalism at all, is something that has to be avoided," he said. (November 4, 2010)

Article: Nieman Reports covers Talese's October 2010 appearance at the Boston Athenaeum. (October 2010)

Interview: Gay Talese tells the Daily Freeman, “Every book is hard work and I never find it simple.” (October 21, 2010)

Audio: Joe Donahue of WAMC Northeast Pulbic Radio asks Gay Talese about his career and his new book. (October 19, 2010)

Interview: Gay Talese speaks with the Los Angeles Times about his Italian upbringing, his love of minor characters, and what drew him to journalism. (October 17, 2010)

Interview: The Barnes & Noble Review interviews Gay Talese about the release of The Silent Season of a Hero. (September 30, 2010)

Interview: In New York magazine, Gay Talese discusses his new collection of sportswriting, The Silent Season of a Hero. (September 24, 2010)

Interview: In The New York Observer, Gay Talese looks back on J. D. Salinger's heyday and discusses being young in New York and excited about writing. (February 3, 2010)

Video: Charlie Rose interviews Gay Talese. (September 3, 2009)

Interview: Katie Roiphe conducts a Q&A with Gay Talese in the Paris Review. A portion of the interview is available online, along with Talese's outline for "Frank Sinatra Has a Cold," written on his signature writing tablet: a shirt board. (Summer 2009)

Profile: New York Post writer Micki Siegel reports on Gay Talese's Upper East Side home, with photos. (June 11, 2009)

Profile: New York magazine's Jonathan Van Meter profiles Gay Talese, his wife, Nan, and the book Gay is writing on their marriage. (April 26, 2009)

Interview: Newsweek's Andrew Romano asks Gay Talese about the hands-on and controversial research methods he used to write Thy Neighbor's Wife. (April 27, 2009)

Article: Gay Talese discusses the return to print of Thy Neighbor's Wife and Honor Thy Father with Charles McGrath of The New York Times. (April 15, 2009)

Podcast: On Vanity Fair's website, Gay Talese reads from his new afterword of the newly reissued paperback of his seminal work Thy Neighbor's Wife. (April 14, 2009)

Podcast: Gay Talese shares his insights into Ernest Hemingway and opens up about his own craft as a writer on SimplyCharly.com. (March 11, 2009)

Interview: In a separate interview with SimplyCharly.com, Gay Talese talks about Ernest Hemingway's advice on writing. (December 2008)

Profile: "Where a Literary Couple Catch Their Breath Down the Shore"
The New York Times profiles Gay Talese at his 1902 house in Ocean City, New Jersey, the town where he was born. (August 3, 2007)

Interview: Gay Talese and Robert Birnbaum have a rowdy conversation inThe Morning News about Talese's new memoir, Lorena Bobbitt's Hollywood agent, attending fights with James Baldwin, and a hundred other reports about the joys and pains of getting a story right. (June 5, 2007)

Podcast: As part of the Kingsborough Community College's Bestselling Author Series, Gay Talese explains on CUNYradio the importance of in-person interviews and why his researching style continues to work for him. (n.b.: requires Quicktime) (June 5, 2007)

Podcast: On KCRW's "The Treatment" Gay Talese speaks with Elvis Mitchell about his latest book, A Writer's Life. (February 21, 2007)

Interview: Newsweek queries Gay Talese about which writers were influential to him. (January 29, 2007)

Profile: Vanity Fair's profile of the legendary Esquire editor Harold T.P. Hayes, who commissioned many of the best journalistic articles by Gay Talese. (January 2007)

Audio: A NPR interview with Gay Talese about 365 Days, the new book of photographs of New York from the New York Times archives, for which Talese wrote the introduction (January 1, 2007)

Video: 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) (October 24, 2006)

Article: NYU's student-written webzine, BULLPEN covers a lecture Talese gave to NYU Journalism students and faculty about the origins of his career and his latest book, A Writer's Life. (September 14, 2006)

Profile: Gay Talese discusses his book A Writer's Life over lunch with the Chicago Sun-Times. (May 28, 2006)

Interview: Sports Illustrated writer Richard Deitsch interviews Gay Talese, who began his career as a sportswriter. (May 25th, 2006)

Video: Guest host Ken Auletta interviews Gay Talese on The Charlie Rose Show about his book A Writer's Life. (May 19, 2006)

Interview: Truthdig's Blair Golson asks Gay Talese about his work and the craft of writing nonfiction. (May 2, 2006)

Profile: The New York Times writes about the fourteen years it took Gay Talese to finish his book A Writer's Life. (April 18, 2006)

Interview: Gay Talese talks with Robert Boynton in The Columbia Journalism Review about the evolution of his latest book, A Writer's Life. (May/June 2006)

Profile: After thirteen years of wandering, the patron saint of New Journalism finds his way to a new book, The New York Observer reports. (December 18, 2005)

Interview: Irwin R. Lewis interviews Gay Talese for the Masters of Professional Writing Program at USC. (July 21, 2005)

Interview: In Mediabistro the legendary and innovative journalist talks about his craft, his career, and why we're not calling him the father of the New Journalism. (April 27, 2004)

Video: Charlie Rose interviews Gay Talese about his book The Gay Talese Reader and his journalistic career. (January 23, 2004)

Article: New York University's Portfolio reports on the origins of Gay Talese's groundbreaking book about the New York Times, The Kingdom and the Power. (2004)

Interview: Gay Talese talks to Newsweek about the renewed interest in his work and his next book. (December 17, 2003)

Audio: Gay Talese talks with Dick Gordon of WBUR Boston (NPR) about his development as a writer. (n.b.: requires RealOne Player) (November 21, 2003)

Audio: Gay Talese speaks about his career at the Boston Athenaeum. (n.b.: requires RealOne Player) (November 20, 2003)

Audio: When Gay Talese published his story "Frank Sinatra Has a Cold" in 1966, he started a revolution in journalism--a new genre called The New Journalism. Slate founding editor Michael Kinsley spoke to Talese about the legacy and future of The New Journalism on NPR's Day to Day. (September 9, 2003)

Audio: Bob Garfield interviews Gay Talese about the impact of Playboy magazine on America on NPR's On the Media. (November 29, 2002)

Interview: PBS interviews Gay Talese for the series "Bridging New York", a segment of "Great Projects." (July 2002)

Profile: Barbara Lounsberry profiles Gay Talese in Creative Nonfiction (2000)

Audio: Gay Talese talks about the editor Willie Morris and his influence on Talese's career with The Southerner. (n.b.: requires Quicktime) (1999)

Video: Charlie Rose interviews authors Susan Sontag, Gay Talese, and Norman Mailer in honor of The Actors Studio in New York. (February 8, 1993)

Audio: Gay Talese speaks with Don Swaim on Wired for Books about Unto the Sons. Talese says he has always had difficulty to turn the mirror around to analyze himself. Part of this problem spawns from the reporter's mind set to remain neutral during a story. (n.b.: requires RealOne Player) (1992)

Article: Time magazine writes about the genesis of Gay Talese's book The Kingdom and the Power. (July 3, 1969)




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