I tried to resist writing this -- especially after my plea against categorizing authors. Plus, so many of us hide our age in this world of never-get-old, unearthing this information, even in our Google-ized world, was difficult.
But, recently, along with the plethora of lists of writers under 40, I was faced with the declaration that, as headlined in a Guardian UK article about writers, "Let's Face It, After 40 You're Past It."
Then I read Sam Tanenhaus opine in the New York Times that there was "an essential truth about fiction writers: They often compose their best and most lasting work when they are young. 'There's something very misleading about the literary culture that looks at writers in their 30s and calls them 'budding' or 'promising,' when in fact they're peaking.'"
Thus, in the interest not of division, but of keeping up the flagging spirits of those who don't want to be pushed out on the ice floe until after publishing all those words jangling in their head, I present 41 Over 40:
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Captain Clussler of NUMA.
In this world of staying-young-at-any-cost, I had always believed writing was the one career that might be spared the measure of age. Stories are ageless, so should their storytellers be.
Cathy Marie Buchanan
I'd have to say the poem "Fingernails" is by far one of his best. If you've read it, you'd know how hard it is to pen down your reaction to something as passively creepy yet grin-inducing as that one.
Nice people, a terrific novel, and yes, they are starting a retirement career as fiction writers at 70 and 53. Their first effort just earned 3 1/2 stars from "Bookmarks Magazine," right up there with Oscar Hijuelos, Ann Beattie and David Mitchell. Not bad for a first novel. Gives us all serious incentive to keep typing!