Born in Louisville, Kentucky, Nash holds a master's degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and is the author of several acclaimed books.
[3] A feature writer for The New York Times, Stereo Review, Entertainment Weekly, and USA Weekend, she was named the Society of Professional Journalists' National Member of the Year in 1994.
[4] Nash's much-reprinted 1978 biography of Dolly Parton included material gathered from a long interview with its subject, that took place over the course of several days.
The biography, Dolly, was published just as Parton reached mainstream appeal outside of the country music world, via her now-famous pop-music crossover.
While covering Presley's death, Alanna Nash had seen what most of the throng of reporters there at the time considered as somewhat bizarre decorum by Parker when he came to the funeral dressed in a Hawaiian shirt and baseball cap.