Writers Over Sixty

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Writers Over Sixty

1kjuliff
tammikuu 25, 2023, 11:08 pm

I was listening to a discussion on local radio and there was talk about how many of the great English-speaking fiction writers who began writing post WWII, have either died or who are possibly past their peak.

Time was that I could rely on finding novels of my favorite writers, Julian Barnes, I an McEwan, John Banville, Cormac McCarthy to name a few. The discussion went on about who would replace them. I remember Jennifer Eagan being mentioned.

Myself, I have discovered that writers from Africa and the Indian sub-continent are increasingly being published and reviewed. Also more fiction is being translated. I’m much raked with Leila Slimani though she’s not a great writer - yet.

Thoughts?.

2John5918
Muokkaaja: tammikuu 26, 2023, 1:47 am

I hope I'm not derailing your thread when I say that my first thought on reading the title was about writers amongst us over-sixties here in this LT group.

I published my first book the year I was 60, and since then I've published two more and am currently writing another two. I won't spam the thread by naming them. They're non-fiction works about the church in Africa, particularly its role in peacebuilding. Three are biographies of individual church leaders who played a major role in peace and human rights, and two are more general books about the church in a conflict zone. It's a niche market and they will never be best sellers, but we (that is myself and those who approached me and asked me to write) felt it was important to keep a record of events and people before our generation all die off and things get forgotten. The oral culture is still strong in many parts of Africa and keeping written records does not come naturally to many of the key actors. In addition, poor storage infrastructure for written records in the face of floods, dust, humidity, heat and white ants, and conflict which has seen whole towns burned to the ground with buildings looted and their contents destroyed, often mean that the only record we currently have is the memories of some of us older people.

3mnleona
tammikuu 26, 2023, 6:37 am

>2 John5918: These books are history and important. Good for you.

4mnleona
tammikuu 26, 2023, 6:41 am

I have 2 friends over 60 writing books. One is in her early 80s and her first book will be published this spring and the other one is almost 90 and sending her book to agents. She published a book years ago.

5kjuliff
tammikuu 26, 2023, 7:24 am

Do people think that some great writers still living, who rose to fame in 20th century have now written their last good book. Hoping to get the thread back on track.

McEwan comes to mind. I was disappointed in Lessfons. He’s still a good writer but his earlier novels are so much better.

I was hoping for a discussion of writers who started their writing career in the 20th century, though writers who started in their sixties should make a good topic. Perhaps I should have given a more apt title to my post.

6vwinsloe
Muokkaaja: tammikuu 26, 2023, 8:46 am

7Poistettu
tammikuu 26, 2023, 11:54 am

Hopefully something in her that sticks to your original theme:

I'm waiting for the "new" Muriel Spark to show up. Her final novella, The Finishing School, was panned, but I thought it was as good as anything she'd ever written. Certainly her style and vinegar hadn't suffered. Ageism on the part of the critics?

Mary Wesley started writing books at 70 and was a consistent best seller until she died in 2002.

Kurt Vonnegut kept writing until he died. His farewell memoir, TimeQuake, was panned, but I think the critics never felt he ever did anything as good as Slaughter House-Five.

And there's Stephen King. He is such a cash cow for publishers that they print everything whether it's good or not. But I don't think his powers have diminished with age. I enjoyed Dr Sleep, written when he was over 60. Ditto his neo-noir, Joyland.

8John5918
Muokkaaja: tammikuu 27, 2023, 8:53 am

Terry Pratchett, Bill Bryson and Michael Moore were still writing good stuff in their sixties.

Edited to add: Likewise John le Carre.

9vwinsloe
Muokkaaja: tammikuu 27, 2023, 9:34 am

John Irving is 80 and just published The Last Chairlift. Anne Tyler is 81 and just published French Braid.

Louise Penny, Louise Erdrich and Elizabeth Strout are all going strong.

10Tess_W
Muokkaaja: tammikuu 29, 2023, 1:47 pm

>7 nohrt4me2: Stephen King is 75 and in 2021 Billy Summers was published---his best yet, IMHO.

Jeffrey Archer, probably my fav British author of the late 20th and 21st century is 82 and also still writing.

A famous country song by George Jones, "Who's gonna fill their shoes?"

11kjuliff
tammikuu 27, 2023, 9:32 pm

>10 Tess_W: yes, who’s gonna fill their shoes? Hard acts to follow. And when filled, which the shall be, I suspect the very structure of the novels will change. Another song, The times they’re a-changing …

12John5918
Muokkaaja: helmikuu 14, 2023, 1:03 am

Salman Rushdie has written quite a few novels since he was sixty, and I understand he intends to continue writing after the recent appalling attack on him.