March Author CAT - Authors First Published At 40 Or Later

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Wiki: https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/2022_AuthorCAT#March:_Authors_First_Publ...

Before I decided to suggest this topic I made a quick list of writers I thought were published after the age of 40. Three of them are pictured above (Tony Hillerman, Lian Hearn, Donna Leon). The other six are listed below with 34 more I have easily found. Now I'm wondering how many more I could find. Dozens, Hundreds?

If you find a glaring error below let me know. I've already caught that Stephen Hawking was not a cosmetologist. I am showing the author's age at the time of first publication of a book although there may have been essays or articles published before that. I have found the topic so interesting and could read from the list below for a long time!

The titles below are not necessarily the first the author published but one for which they are known.


Adams Richard 52 Watership Down
Anderson Sherwood 40 F/NF Winesburg Ohio
Angelou Maya 41 Memoir, I Know Why the Cage Bird Sings
Berendt John 55 F, Midnight in the Garden of Good and
Evil
Chandler Raymond 51 Hard Boiled Mystery, Poetry
Chernow Ron 41 NF, American History and Biography
Clarke Susanna 45 F, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell
Dewitt Helen 44 F, The Last Samauri
Doerr Harriet 74 F, Stones for Ibarra
Eliot George 40 F, Adam Bedde
Glass Julia 40 F, The Three Junes
Haley Alex 41 F, NF - Racism
Hawking Stephen 46 NF, Cosmologist - Brief History of Time
Hearn Lian 60 F, Fantasy - Tales of the Otori
Hillerman Tony 45 Mystery, Navajo Tribal Police
Jacob Mira 41 The Sleepwalkers Guide to Dancing
James P.D 42 Mystery, Dalglish Series
Kolbert Elizabeth 43 NF, Environmental
Lee Child 43 Mystery, Jack Reacher Series
Leon Donna 50 Mystery, Venetian Detective
Michener James 42 F, Tales of the South Pacific
Mukherjee Siddhartha 40 NF, Medicine - The Emperor of All
Maladies
Nguyen Viet Thanh 40 F/ NF - The Sympathizer
Nuland Sherwin 58 NF- Medicine
Proulx Annie 53 F, NF The Shipping News
Read Miss 42 Fiction
Roach Mary 44 NF - Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human
Cadavers
Russell Mary D. 46 SF, Historical fiction
Sewell Anna 57 Black Beauty
Smith Dodie 54 F, I Capture the Castle
Sobel Dava 48 NF - Science, Longitude
Strout Elizabeth 42 F, Olive Kitteridge
Sue Monk Kidd 54 The Secret Life of Bees
Thirty Umrigar 40 The Space Between Us
Tolkien J. R. R. 45 Fantasy
Towles Amor 47 F, A Gentleman in Moscow
Truss Lynn 40 NF/F - Eats Shoots and Leaves
Vreeland Susan 42 Historical Fiction (usually art related)
Wilder Larua I. 65 Little House on the Prairie Books
Wilkerson Isabel 49 NF, Racism - The Warmth of Other Suns
Zinn Howard 58 NF - History - A People's History of the
U.S.

I think this is going to be more of one where I suddenly realise the author fits rather than planning it ahead

I think this a very interesting topic and I never really thought about it before!

I'm going to reread The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien because it ties in with my personal reading goal to read his major Middle-earth texts before the Amazon series comes out in September.

Just a note on J.R.R. Tolkien: He already published specialist texts and translations when he was younger as well as several poems, but not a novel.

This list gives me a few more possibilities than what I had before so I'll hold off and decide later.

I'm glad you posted a list of some possibilities. I'm in the group read of Donna Leon books, and this is one of our months so I'll read or listen to one of her novels. Unto Us a Son Is Given is the book for March. I might manage to get to another author, but I'll just commit to Leon. ETA: Oh -- I'm also doing the group read of Winesburg, Ohio so I guess I will be reading at least two.

I will be reading Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson as well and I am also going to be reading Wild Silence by Raynor Winn, whose first book was published when she was 56.

I'm going to read A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson. Her first book, Behind the Scenes at the Museum was published when she was 43.

My March Winesburg, Ohio group read will for this as well. A win-win!

Louise Penny was 47 when Still Life was published, so if anyone wants to start or continue the Three Pines series, this would be a good time :)

I'll be reading Stolen Blessings, by Lawrence Sanders. His first novel, The Anderson Tapes, was published when he was 50.

I will be reading The Cat Who Had 60 Whiskers the last book in the series by Lilian Jackson Braun. The first book was published when she was in her 50s.

I will also be doing the Donna Leon and Winesburg, Ohio group reads. If I have time, I might squeeze in Little House in the Big Woods.

ETA: It looks like I'll be reading another book that fits, The Doctors Blackwell. Its author appears to have been in her 40s when her first book was published.

I have a couple of books by Cokie Roberts, who although she was a journalist and wrote articles, do not publish a book until she was 64. I will probably read one of these.

Update: Just discovered that Edith Maxwell, one of my favorite mystery authors, did not begin publishing books until she was nearly 60. I would prefer to read the last volume of her Quaker Midwife Mystery series, A Changing Light, which I am also planning to read for the MysteryKIT. I might read a book by Roberts if time permits.

Since I'm already reading Kingdom of the Blind by Louise Penny for the Alpha, I think I'll count it here too.

Thank you for the list. I wasn't sure how long it would take to find authors on my tbr who first published over 40. This helps!

>10 rabbitprincess: Oh, thanks for that! Still Life is on my list for next month anyway, so this is very neat.
It fits so many of our CATs/KITs next month!

Leaning toward a James Michener or maybe Olive Kitteridge by Strout.

Shoot - was thinking more the Strout (I assume the Michener I'm thinking is long... and I would kind of like a break from long at the moment as I still try to get through a 500+ history/nonfiction in this short month!). But the Strout may or may not come in from the library for me. before the end of March. I guess we'll see (or I may be reading/listening to this one in April!)

Also, Mark Twain published his first novel at age 42; although he had written essays and newspaper articles before then. also, Henry Miller (Tropic of Cancer) was his first book at age 44.

Laura Ingalls Wilder was 65 when her first book was published.

It really is quite infuriating how many authors had their first novel published when they were 39

>19 Robertgreaves: I agree! When I was putting the list above together, I couldn't believe how many 38s and 39s there were!

I read Blanche Among the Talented Tenth by Barbara Neely who was 40 when her first story was published and 50 when her first novel was published.

I have a lot more possibilities than I would have thought for this. I was recently thinking that I needed to get back into the Tales of the Otori, so I have started Brilliance of the Moon by Lian Hearn. Other possibilities this month might be my next Donna Leon or Louise Penny.

Found this when Googling:
Lorna Page: The oldest debut novelist on record! Page’s first novel, A Dangerous Weakness, was published when she was ninety-three years old. She took the money she earned from the book and bought a bigger house for herself and a few of her friends so they could properly enjoy their golden years.

Dracula was published when Bram Stoker was 50 years old.

Elizabeth Jolley, an Australian author, was first published at 53. Her book The Well is a fabulous Australian gothic novel.

Black Beauty was published when Anna Sewell was 57.

Frank McCourt published Angela's Ashes when he was 60.

George Eliot's first novel was published when she was 40, as was Toni Morrison.

Julia Glass's Three Junes was published when she was 46.

Claire Fuller published Our Endless Numbered Days when she was 48.

I have read Der Hahn ist tot, Ingrid Noll's debut novel, published when she was 55.

I just read A Changing Light by Edith Maxwell who started publishing novels when she was nearly 60 (probably 59).

Completed Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson

I've finished Kingdom of the Blind by Louise Penny whose first book was published when she was 47.

I just finished The Oracle Glass by Judith Merkle Riley, whose first book was published when she was 44.

Mary Marks published her first book in 2014, at 70 years old. I just finished Knot My Sister's Keeper, the sixth in her A Quilting Mystery series.

I have also completed Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson.

I've just read Endless Sea: Poems and Drawings by Barbara Grandis. For approximately half a century, Barbara was an accomplished artist who held shows. A few years age, at the encouragement of our senior citizens poetry leader, Barbara started writing poetry. Endless Sea was published in 2018 when Barbara was in her mid-80s. She died earlier this month within a month of turning 90. Her poetry is primarily about aging although she includes poems in memory of a young University of Virginia student who was murdered at the age of 18. Barbara was a joy to be around; she asked interesting questions which made one think.

Anne Perry published her first book aged 41, as I recall. I have just finished Slaves and obsession which is the one where I got disillusioned with the Monk series.

ETA: I notice that there has been a change in the title, what was that about?

Initially hadn't realized this one fit!

The Clay Girl / Heather Tucker
2.5 stars

Ari (Hariet) is only 8-years old when her abusive father shoots himself. Ari heads to Nova Scotia to live with her aunts. Her four older sisters… I’m not quite sure where they went. Even the summary so far is partly from the summaries online. Ari goes back and forth between her abusive mother in Ontario and her aunts. Luckily for Ari, her new stepfather (Len) is kind and caring. Even so, Ari has her imaginary friend, Jasper the seahorse, to help her along.

Ok, so it was really hard to follow, especially at the start. I don’t like having to use an online summary to get me up to speed with what is happening as I read a book, but I didn’t like the way it was written, as there was too much reading between the lines to figure out what was going on much of the time (though not all the time).

When I could figure out what was going on, it was good. But too hard to figure that out in too many places. Especially at the start, it didn’t help that all of Ari’s older sisters had names that started with J, in addition to Jasper. It also took a while to figure out who/what the heck Jasper was (and maybe I never would have without the online summary?). There were some things I liked – Ari’s relationship with Mikey, especially. Mikey was a stepbrother later on (not Len’s son, but the son of a different (abusive) stepfather later). I also liked Ari’s relationship with Len. I did think the story was good, but I did not like the way it was written, as it was just too hard to follow through much of the book.

Starting The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman. It was published when the author was 50.

I just read the first Jack Reacher novel, Killing Floor. It's Lee Child's debut novel, published when he was 43.

COMPLETED The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman (aged 50 when published)

I finished Return to Thrush Green by Miss Read (1978). I just love this series; not as humorous as her Fairacre books, but the personalities of Thrush Green are more varied and interesting. This book was written when Miss Read was 65, and she continued writing until 1996 at age 83. She died in 2012 at age 99.

I read a thriller by Lee Child, The Enemy.

I finished A Town Called Solace by Mary Lawson and Night Frost by R. D. Wingfield. They both published their first books at age 56.