I spent my 20s dilly-dallying, not-publishing, so sure of rejection by MFA programs that I never applied. So I am always happy to find new examples of people who did not start publishing until later in life. Until after, say, the age of 35. The Millions has a good series on Late Bloomers, but I am a woman who prefers to comfort herself with a collection of cold, hard facts. So, in Harper’s Index style, here are a number of writers I love who got started late in life:.
Age at which Wallace Stevens published Harmonium, his first book of poetry: 44.
Age at which George Saunders published CivilWarLand in Bad Decline: 38.
Age at which Janet Malcolm published her first book of essays, Diana and Nikon: Essays on the Aesthetic of Photography : 46.
Age at which Norman Rush published his first book, Whites: 53.
Age at which Alice Munro published her first collection of stories, Dance of the Happy Shades: 37.
Age at which Penelope Fitzgerald published her first book, a biography of Edward Burne-Jones: 59.
Age at which Willa Cather published her first novel, Alexander’s Bridge: 39.
Age at which Toni Morrison published her first novel, The Bluest Eye: 39.
Age at which Marilynne Robinson published her first novel, Housekeeping: 37.
Age at which Mary Anne Evans, a.k.a. George Eliot, published Adam Bede: 40.
Another favoured mode of self-soothing is checking out when writers publish their best work, which is to say, generally late in life:
Age at which Wallace Stevens, discouraged by the reviews of Harmonium, published his second book of poetry, Ideas of Order: 56.
Age at which Rebecca West published Black Lamb and Grey Falcon: 49.
Age at which Janet Malcolm published her masterpiece, The Journalist and the Murderer, as a New Yorker serial: 55.
Age at which Edith Wharton published The House of Mirth: 43.
Age at which Marilynne Robinson published her second novel, Gilead: 61.
Age at which Willa Cather published Death Comes for the Archbishop: 54.
Age at which Toni Morrison published Beloved: 56.
Age at which Virginia Woolf published Mrs. Dalloway: 43.
Age at which Junot Díaz published The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao: 39.
Age at which Robertson Davies published Fifth Business: 57.
Age at which Ian McEwan published Atonement: 53.
Age at which Eudora Welty published The Optimist’s Daughter: 63.
Feel better now? I certainly do. Feel free to add your own examples.
I need to cut today a little short, so that’s it for this week; back next.
N.B.: A few corrections have been made to this post since it initially appeared, specifically to the Janet Malcolm and Norman Rush entries, which I got a little wrong initially.
20 responses
Hooray for this! Thank you, from a 46-year-old.
Well, how old will you be if you don’t publish? I wasn’t worried about it before, I’m not worried about it now. If my art is meaningful, it will still carry meaning in one year, or ten.
– drafting up my first book of poetry now, at 41.
I’m saving nothing for the swim back.
(I’m grateful for this refreshing list.)
boubacar traore released his first recording at age 48. this and his second, released at age 50, are masterpieces of west african guitar.
Thanks for your list. Here’s two more: In 1983, Lewis Nordan, age 45, best known for the novel Wolf Whistle,(published when he was 54), published his first collection of stories, Welcome to the Arrow-Catcher Fair. In 1999, William Gay, age 58, published his first novel, The Long Home, (this was already mentioned by The Millions, sorry). These two and Walker Percy inspire me and give me hope that it’s not too late to do great work.
Kent Haruf published his first novel, The Tie That Binds, in 1984 at 41. And one of the best late starts I know, Norman Maclean published his first book of fiction, A River Runs Through It, at 74.
I have to say, this made me feel better. Congratulations for that. I’m thirty this year too.
*Norman Rush’s book is called “Whites”, and is a short story collection.
This is great! Encouraging to say the least.
Although he wrote films from the late 1940s to mid-1970s, it wasn’t until age 90 that Millard Kaufman published his first novel “Bowl of Cherries” in 2007 and his last novel “Misadventure” posthumously two years later.
I rather thought publishing in one’s twenties was less common, at least these days? Aren’t people in the thirties generally the majority of debut authors? I certainly hope we are, damn-it.
This shouldn’t be too surprising. No matter how well a young person may write, it usually takes life experience to add real depth to a novel.
All this is great to hear. I publsihed my first novel, “Bob the Book,” at 52. http://www.chelseastationeditions.com/pratt-bob.html
Because the life of publishing and my own life might never intersect, I reserve the right to be a happy failure at any age.
Kant published the Critique at 57.
Age at which Truman Capote published In Cold Blood: 42
Age at which Frank McCourt published Angela’s Ashes: 66
Age at which Mary Karr published The Liar’s Club: 40
Age at which poet Louise Gluck published The Wild Iris: 49
Age at which Tony Hillerman wrote The Blessing Way and began a career as a bestselling and well-loved mystery writer: 45
…OK I’ll stop…
Raymond Chandler didn’t write his first short story until he was forty-four or five and didn’t publish his first novel until he was over 50.
And there’s Harriet Doerr who published her stunning first novel, Stones for Ibarra, at 74, and won the National Book Award.
My first book, Come to the Edge, was published by Random House last year when I was 50. It’s never too late.
Great list! Poet Virginia Hamilton Adair published her first poetry collection at age 83.
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/virginia-hamilton-adair
And there is of course Norman Maclean, at 70, with “A River Runs Through It.” And William Maxwell, 70, with “So Long, See You Tomorrow.”
norman rush stands out as he is truly one of the great living american writers. Ian McEwan should be scrapped from the list. He won a major prize for his first collection of short stories when he was still in his twenties
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