A BRIEF BIO
Talia Carner is formerly the publisher of Savvy Woman
magazine and a lecturer at international women’s economic forums.
Award-winning author of three novels (most recently JERUSALEM
MAIDEN, HarperCollins, 2011) and numerous stories, essays and
articles, she is a committed supporter of global human rights.
Carner has spearheaded ground-breaking projects centered on female
plight and women’s activism.
A SUMMARY BIO
Talia
Carner was the publisher of Savvy Woman magazine. A former
adjunct professor at Long Island University School of Management and
a marketing consultant to Fortune 500 companies, she was also a
volunteer counselor and lecturer for the Small Business
Administration and a member of United States Information Agency
(USIA) missions to Russia. She participated at the 1995
International Women's Conference in Beijing, where she sat on
economic panels and helped develop political campaigns for Indian
and African women. Ms. Carner's first novel, PUPPET CHILD, was
listed in “The Top 10 Favorite First Novels 2002” and launched a
nationwide legislation (The Protective Parent Reform Act) that
became the platform for two State Senatorial candidates. CHINA DOLL
made Amazon’s bestsellers list and served as the platform for Ms.
Carner's presentation at the U.N. in 2007 about infanticide in
China—the first ever in U.N. history. Over 50 of Carner’s
award-winning short stories, articles and personal essays have
appeared in The New York Times, anthologies, literary
magazines and leading websites. Her new novel, JERUSALEM MAIDEN,
(HarperCollins, June 2011,) deals with the place of women in
extremely religious societies. The novel has won the Forward
National Literature Award in the “historical fiction” category.
Ms. Carner is a board member of
HBI, a research center for Jewish women's life and culture at
Brandeis University, and an honorary board member of several
anti-domestic violence and child abuse intervention
organizations.
Her addictions
include chocolate, ballet, hats—and social justice.
Talia Carner and her husband Ron Carner have four grown children and reside
in Manhattan and Bridgehampton, NY.
A FULL BIO
Before turning to fiction writing, Talia Carner worked for Redbook
magazine and served as the publisher of Savvy Woman magazine.
An adjunct professor of marketing at Long Island University and a
marketing consultant to Fortune 500 companies, she was a volunteer
counselor and lecturer for the Small Business Administration and a
member of United States Information Agency missions to Russia,
teaching women entrepreneurial skills. Carner’s activities in
women’s organizations led to her participation at the 1995
International Women’s Conference in Beijing, where she learned of
the atrocities of The Dying Rooms—the Chinese orphanages where the
documented death rate was 80%—and about the U.S.’s courts betrayal
of molested children. Helping African women to develop a campaign
against clitoridectomy, she was exposed to the plight of women in
societies that subjected millions of girls to this brutal
mutilation. Her education about violence against women continued
when she assisted Indian women in a campaign to end the burning of
brides over dowry disputes. A sought-after keynote lecturer at
renowned organizations, Carner speaks on both universal and
culture-specific issues facing today’s women across the globe.
As Carner researched and wrote about the difficulties women face, she
examined her own family’s ten-generation history in Jerusalem.
Because her grandmother, with whom she had been close, had been
blocked from developing her extraordinary artistic talent, Carner
set out to explore the religious world in which obedient 12- to
14-year-olds were expected to hasten the Messiah’s arrival and save
the world Jewry by procreating. Her novel JERUSALEM MAIDEN
(HarperCollins, June 2011,) depicts a woman’s struggle for
self-expression against her society’s religious dictates.
In the early 1980s, while at Redbook magazine, Carner was the first
to define the characteristics of female baby-boomers as having a
later marriage-age and being more educated, career-oriented, and
health- and civic-conscious than their older counterparts. While the
publisher of Savvy Woman magazine—then one of only four
females to head a major American magazine—she was the first to
document the demographics of female business owners. Launching her
own marketing consulting firm to Fortune 500 companies, Carner
commissioned independent research and challenged both public
perceptions and the U.S. government’s definition of
entrepreneurship, a debate that ultimately established the White
House Oversight Committee and brought changes to the way the Office
of Labor Statistics gathered and analyzed data about husband-wife
business ownership.
In 1993, on Carner’s second U.S. Information Agency (USIA) mission to
Russia, she was caught in the uprising of the parliament against
then-president Boris Yeltsin. Her report to the USIA about her
escape was the seed for her first (unpublished) novel and the start
of her fiction-writing career.
Carner’s first published novel, PUPPET CHILD, was listed in
BookBrowse.com’s “Top 10 Favorite First Novels 2002” and won her an
Outstanding Author Award (BookReviewCafe.com.) The novel launched
The Protective Parent Reform Act, a law now passed in several stares
and under consideration in many others, and has become the platform
of two State Senatorial candidates. Her second novel, CHINA DOLL,
was the platform for her 2007 presentation at the U.N. about
infanticide in China—the first in U.N. history.
In addition to published articles on issues of family court, infanticide in
China, and women’s plights in developing societies, Carner’s
award-winning personal essays have appeared in The New York
Times, Chocolate for Women, Cup of Comfort and Chicken Soup
anthologies, as well as The Best Jewish Writing 2003. Her
short stories have been published in literary magazines such as
Midstream, Lynx Eye, River Sedge, Moxie, Lilith, Rosebud,
Confrontation, North Atlantic Review, Litro, and Midwest
Literary Magazine. An excerpt from JERUSALEM MAIDEN is included
in The Best New Writing 2011 as the “Editor’s Choice Award”
and was nominated to the prestigious Pushcart Prize. The book-length
novel JERUSALEM MAIDEN won the Forward National Literature Award in
the “historical fiction” category.
A 7th generation Sabra born in Tel Aviv, Israel, Ms. Carner served in the
Israel Defense Force (IDF.) She received a B.A. degree from Hebrew
University in Jerusalem in Psychology and Sociology and a Master's
degree in Economics from the State University of New York at Stony
Brook.
Talia Carner is a
board member of Hadassah-Brandeis Institute, (HBI) the Jewish women
research center at Brandeis University. She is also an honorary
board member of several anti-domestic violence and child abuse
intervention organizations. She and her husband, Ron Carner,
(president of Maccabi USA) have four grown children. The couple
lives in Bridgehampton, Long Island and in Manhattan, New York.
Board Member:
*
Hadassah-Brandeis
Institute (Jewish women’s studies department at Brandeis University)
* Jewish Women's Foundation of New
York
*
National Coalition
For Family Justice, and other domestic violence and family &
law organizations.
Member:
* Authors' Guild
* International Women Writing Guild
* Women National Book Association
* Two-Bridges Writers
