Older Writers enjoy fulfillment, fame and success

In recent years, there have been a number of popular and highly esteemed older people who started to write after the age of 50. Marina Lewycka had her first novel A History of Tractors in Ukrainian published when she was 59, Frank McCourt became famous on publishing Angela's Ashes at 66, Mary Wesley began to write her first novel, The Chamomile Lawn, in her 70s while Diana Athill published her famous memoirs after the age of 75 following a successful publishing career.

Indeed, many commissioning editors note that the age of first time authors seeking publication has been rising to the late 50s and beyond, according to the Yorkshire Post.

Recent research shows that older people are taking an ever greater interest in writing and are using the internet to enhance their skills. HarperCollins has noticed an unusually large number of over 50s uploading their work on to their website www.authonomy.com for aspiring and first time authors.

Mark Johnson of Authonomy elaborated: "Perhaps this is because age and experience can offer a clear advantage to anyone hoping to write engagingly or perhaps older people now have more time and are more confident about sharing their passions online."

Interestingly, the Government is helping to fund a campaign called Bookbite, intended to encourage not only aspiring authors but also reading and writing through many informal situations such as diary keeping, family research and book groups.

Bookbite launches this week, organised by the charity Booktrust and is already showing that older people are using their time not only to write about their experiences and explore the past, but to explore various fictional genres too.

Nearly 30 per cent of over 60s have an interest in online family history research, rising to 40 per cent of people aged 76 plus. Nearly half of over 60s keep a diary or want to write their memoirs, while sixty per cent feel that older people have a duty to record their stories for younger generations.

Bookbite is now distributing 100,000 Bookbite magazines to people's homes, helped by a number of charities involved with older people such as WRVS. The 36-page magazine, downloadable from the Bookbite website, encourages older people to go online and access various literary resources.

Viv Bird CEO of Bookbite observes: "It's really interesting that we're seeing this surge in reading and writing from a group of people who have education, and maybe further education, life experience, talent and ideas as well as a huge amount of wisdom."

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