The same Independent article by Jerome
Taylor I mentioned in a previous post concludes with descriptions of three other
later-blooming writers:
"Mary Anne Evans Known by her masculine pen name George Eliot, Mary Anne Evans was 40 when her first novel, Adam Bede, was published. Crippled by self doubt... it took her years to get the courage to write a novel. Adam Bede met instant success and over the next six years she churned out four more novels before releasing her most famous work, Middlemarch, in 1872. She is regarded as one of the Victorian era's literary greats.
Mary Wesley An
MI5 worker during the Second World War...She once
said that "60 should be the time to start something new, not put your feet
up", which would explain why she decided to publish her first adult novel
at age 70. She had tried to get her work published many times before but her
belated achievement later became her unique selling point...In the last 20 years of her life
she went on to publish nine more books and is thought to have sold at least
three million copies of her work worldwide.
Diana Athill A mover and shaker in
the publishing world for the past 50 years, Athill is not technically a late
bloomer but her Costa Book of the Year win this year for her autobiography
about old age, Somewhere Towards the End, shows that age is no
barrier for producing prize-winning work. Aged 91, she is the oldest winner of
the Costa (formerly the Whitbread) awards."
Heartening reading for any writers no longer in the first blush of youth!
(What's stopping you? Maybe you're not sure where to start? Start by getting my book, "Your Writing Coach," from Amazon or your other favorite online or offline retailer.)
