Nan Talese (née Ahearn; born December 19, 1933) is a retired American editor, and a veteran of the New York publishing industry.

[7] Talese attended the Rye Country Day School and graduated from the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Greenwich, Connecticut.

[2] Talese began her career at Random House, first as a proofreader and later as the publisher's first female literary editor.

Talese has edited many notable authors, including Pat Conroy, Margaret Atwood, Deirdre Bair, Ian McEwan, Jennifer Egan, Antonia Fraser, Barry Unsworth, Valerie Martin, and Thomas Keneally.

[4] In 2005, Talese was the first recipient of the Center for Fiction’s Maxwell Perkins Award, given to "honor the work of an editor, publisher, or agent, who over the course of his or her career has discovered, nurtured, and championed writers of fiction in the United States.” The award is “dedicated to Maxwell Perkins, in celebration of his legacy as one of the country’s most important editors.