Gay Talese's Comments On Women Writers Spark Controversy

Published April 4, 2016 at 1:58 PM EDT

Author Gay Talese pictured at an event in New York, has caught fire for comments he made about women writers at a conference in Boston over the weekend. (Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

At a writing conference in Boston on Saturday, renowned journalist Gay Talese said women writers of his generation seldom took on tough subjects, because they did not like to talk to strangers.

The remarks were in response to a question about female writers who inspired him (“Nora Ephron … Mary McCarthy … none”) and set off a social media firestorm.

The 84-year-old writer told The Associated Press on Sunday that he misunderstood the question.

Do you have favorite women non-fiction writers who were Talese’s contemporaries? Leave your suggestions here or tweet us @hereandnow.

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