6 Of The Oldest First-Time Authors

6 Of The Oldest First-Time Authors

This post is all about the World’s  Oldest First-Time Authors.

There are some things that you can be too old to do for the first time – climbing Mt Everest springs to mind. But writing is not one of them. It’s a skill that can be learned at any age. Living a full life before you start writing gives you tons of experience, life lessons, knowledge about people, and memories on which to draw. It really doesn’t matter how old you are when your first book is published!

Here are 6 of the oldest first-time authors

These are authors that have been traditionally published. There are many first-time authors that self-publish who are older than some of the people on this list.

'6 Of The World's Oldest First-Time Authors

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Elaine Dodge

by Elaine Dodge. Author of The Harcourts of Canada series and The Device HunterElaine trained as a graphic designer, then worked in design, advertising, and broadcast television. She now creates content, mostly in written form, including ghost writing business books, for clients across the globe, but would much rather be drafting her books and short stories.

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Posted on: 23rd January 2025
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1 thought on “6 Of The Oldest First-Time Authors”

  1. Hi

    To whom it concerns
    Regarding ‘Late starting Authors’ [today 23 Jan 2025]

    I self-published my first novel, The Buffalo Hunters, back in1996, the year I turned fifty, and again self- published [on Amazon] my 18th publication, last Sunday, 20h January 2025; soon after my 78th birthday.

    My work is a mix of poetry that I have been writing since 1964 and Pomes [sic] are my most recent evolution. Plus a series of six stories that I call the Azanian Quartet that all dealt with how the world ended: and what happened afterwards. The last two of which were finally published last year. Being: “Murdering UBI @ Kitchener’s Kafe… And Tale Of Tomorrow : Dogge Lake Story.

    Five of these stories are published on Amazon and the sixth,
    The Jonker Memorandum [named in honour of the Afrikaner poet Ingrid] was produced between 2010 and 2014 as an 84 episode podcast cyber serial, about how the world ended and what happened afterwards, on my website site: that I have now discontinued for the time being.

    My most recent collection of ‘Pomes’ … i.e. ‘Those Cunning Olde Pesky Memes:’ ‘Meme like a Gene’.. Pomes about Habits… made it on last Sunday. And I was determined all would be published before Mr Trump took office… When it was obvious back in 2023 that he was going to win.

    Habits
    AreWhatWillBe
    OurKatastropheNot
    SomeBoogieManHidingInThe
    Wardrobe….

    [A short 22 syllable Xappzi] [my retitling of Adelaide’s incorrectly, in this poet’s opinion, named Cinquain]

    I have written a reference to WritersWrite.co.za in the acknowledgements section of Pesky Memes; as a Thank You for useful tips and guidelines: published by you over the many years that you have sent me things…

    Title No.18 represents the close of a project I embarked on 30 years ago… And I felt it would be fitting to add you to the very extensive list of those vast number of sources from whom I have found information: to assist me with my project… It was my rule from the beginning … given how busy my life was, to write 100 words every day … Until I got a chance to put it all together…

    Which eventually happened at start 2018 and to which I have committed some many hours a day, seven days a week for the past 7 years since retiring from duties in high school classrooms… Writing, re writing ditto ditto ditto editing, editing and editing, curating et al, formatting and publishing: on the miracle called Amazon…

    I discovered from one of my Matric classes back in 2004, that i needed to change my name for SEO reasons. So although I have published two works under my legal name in 1996 {Buffalo hunters] and 1998 {Seven Ways to get your money} all are now published under my given name since..

    I realised via my learners that year that Facebook had been invented; and that I would never make first place, on Google: with a name that was already number 257, when I signed onto Facebook that day in 2004 … Oh btw… I taught Applied Economics and History. [I grew up as a performing poet when other kids played soccer of cricket]… Although I have had to take Matric English now and again in emergencies… I am not an English scholar … I am now simply a poet and storyteller…

    So this means both those aforementioned books plus 16 others have been published now under my Shona ‘handle’. Jakari.

    Many thanks for being consistently useful in a most friendly manner
    May you continue to be
    Best regards

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