She’s not gonna take it: Talese and Winfrey

  The footage that some of you may be waiting for -- Nan Talese (left) criticizing Oprah Winfrey -- is up on C-SPAN2’s BookTV.

The four-minute video clip shows Doubleday’s Talese, who was taken to task by Winfrey last year for not checking the facts in James Frey’s memoir "A Million Little Pieces," speaking at a Texas writers conference last weekend.

Talese responded to a conference participant's question during a keynote speech and a Q&A with Joyce Carol Oates (in the video, Oates can be seen patiently standing at the podium in the background while Talese is speaking). Talese, the editor of Ian McEwan, Margaret Atwood and many other preeminent writers, can be heard saying, among other things, that Winfrey "verbally flayed [Frey] in public.... It was a public scourging." The clip ends with the audience’s applause.

Nick Owchar

Comments

[Sharon J.]

The only thing Oprah did wrong was defend James Frey on "The Larry King Show." Readers depend on book editors to check the facts, which Nan Talese did not. She's been in the business too long not to be able to spot factual errors in a book. She doesn't want to take responsibility for not doing her job.

[Patricia]

Stop hatin' on Oprah!!

[Robert B.]

In other words, Oprah's not really one of us concerned with truth. For her, its just business and concern for the love of her fans! Sanctimonious or not, she remains a force to reckon with.