By James Aitchison

Can elderly fingers, wrinkled, with pronounced knuckles, still tap out books that are relevant to readers, coherent in language and plot, and worthy to be published?

It seems they can.  While ageism confronts most in the workplace, authors appear exempt.  Which should spell hope for every young aspiring novelist and poet.

Margaret Atwood exemplifies the case.  She published The Handmaid’s Tale in 1965 when she was 46.  With two Booker Prizes under her belt, she has produced 18 novels, 11 books of nonfiction, nine collections of short fiction, eight children’s books, two graphic novels as well as poetry.  She continues writing to critical acclaim.

British mystery author Ann Cleeves, now in her seventies, continues to write best-selling crime fiction.  Her novels have been dramatised as television series, most famously Vera and Shetland.

Not to be outdone, Australian Booker Prize-winning author Tom Keneally continues his prolific output at the age of 90.  He was 47 when Schindler’s Ark was published. 

Another Australian, essayist-journalist-poet-broadcaster-satirist Clive James actively practised his craft into his seventies.

Peruvian author Mario Vargas Llosa won the Nobel Prize in 2010 at the age of 74, his reward for decades of dazzling work.

Despite today’s rampant ageism, history shows that it is never too late to become an author.

Success did not come early for Toni Morrison (until age 40), Mark Twain (until age 41) and Marcel Proust (until age 43).  Henry Miller was first published when he was 44, while J. R. R. Tolkien was aged 45.

Others had a longer wait.  Raymond Chandler published his first detective novel, The Big Sleep, at 51.  Richard Adams was 52 when Watership Down was published.  Likewise, Karen Blixen — who wrote under the pseudonym Isak Dinesen — was 52 when Out of Africa was published.  Alex Haley was 55 when Roots was published.

Annie Proulx was first published at the age of 57; she went on to write the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Shipping News and her short story Brokeback Mountain became an Academy Award-winning movie.

Joyce Carol Oates was first published in 1963 when she was 62.  Now aged 87, she has 58 novels to her credit and has never stopped writing.

A retiree, Frank McCourt wrote his famous memoir, Angela’s Ashes, in his early sixties and won a Pulitzer Prize.  Laura Ingalls Wilder was 65 when she started writing her Little House books.  She wrote her last book when she was 76.

American novelist Cormac McCarthy achieved cult status in his seventies with No Country for Old Men and The Road.

The deeper we delve into publishing history, the more we realise it is not a young person’s game.

Bram Stoker was 50 when Dracula first hit the shelves in 1897.  More than a century later, it still defines the vampire genre and has inspired countless movies.

Anna Sewell was 57 when her children’s classic Black Beauty was published in 1877.  It is now considered one of the top 10 best-selling novels for children ever written.

Daniel Defoe published his debut novel Robinson Crusoe at age 59.  In 1726, Jonathan Swift published Gulliver’s Travels when he too was 59.

Special accolades go to an English and Indian author.

Ladies first.  Lorna Page was 93 when A Dangerous Weakness was published.  With the proceeds she purchased a spacious house in Devon which could accommodate some of her elderly friends who were in aged care homes.

Meanwhile, Indian author Nirad Chaudhuri published his first book, The Autobiography of an Unknown Indian, when he was 54.  Its sequel was published when he was 90, and his final book, Three Horsemen of the New Apocalypse, was published when he was 100.

Arguably, the Grand Prix must go to Barbara Cartland who wrote right up to her death at 98.  Her lifetime output totalled 723 contemporary and historical romance novels, with sales of 750 million copies.  (Some estimates now put that figure at two billion!)

Is there a secret to an ageless writing life?

The words might flow at a slower pace, but a writer is a writer is a writer.  Life experience is a precious commodity.  Certainly, after 50, the well is never dry!  Curiosity, mental agility and the ability to self-edit and sniff out the odd clunky sentence will always keep authorship alive and well.  Perhaps the greatest prerequisite is still having something to say.

Los Angeles poet Donna Hilbert pushes back against ageism.  If anyone asks her “Are you still writing?”, they might as well ask “Are you still breathing?”

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James Aitchison is an Australian author and poet aged 81 who is still happily writing.