Sources reread on 1 November 2026

At what age did famous authors find success?

Q: What is the average age of a first published novel?

In this table, the median age at the first book is 29, and 13% of the writers were 40 or older.

Q: Am I too old to write a novel at 50 or 60?

6 writers in the table published their first book at 50 or later, including Frank McCourt (66), Laura Ingalls Wilder (65), Penelope Fitzgerald (59), Anna Sewell (57), and Pierre Lemaitre (55).

Q: Which famous authors started writing after 40?

19 writers in the table were 40 or older when their first book came out. Among those who started between 40 and 49: Bertha von Suttner (40), Dolores Redondo (40), Annette von Droste-Hülshoff (41), Maya Angelou (41), and Elena Garro (42).

Q: Which author found success the latest?

In this table, Frank McCourt, at 66, with Angela's Ashes (1996).

Q: How long between the first book and success?

The median gap is 1 year. For 69 writers out of 148, the first book was the success.

Q: How is the first success chosen?

It is the first work the source links to recognition: a prize, strong sales or a breakthrough spelled out in words. Each row gives the reason and links to the page read.

Age at the first book, age at the first success and the years in between, for famous writers from every period and many languages, late bloomers included. Sort the table, filter by language or century: many authors started late in life, and many waited.

How this page is made

Every age is computed by code from dates: birth and death read on Wikidata, first book and first success read on the author’s Wikipedia article in their own language (English for the other languages), on 1 November 2026. A quotation from the page backs each title. Age at a publication is the difference between the years, so it can be one year too high when the book came out before the birthday.

What the figures say

Half of these 148 writers found their first success at 32 or later, and 30% at 40 or older.

Median age at first success: 32years
Success at 40 or older: 30%
Median gap between first book and success: 1year

Age at first successNumber of writers per age bracket, for the chosen filters.

< 25

25–34

35–44

45–54

55 +

The writers’ table

Find a writer

Writing language

Century of birth

148 of 148 writers


Françoise Sagan	19 Bonjour tristesse, 1954	19 Bonjour tristesse, 1954 prix des Critiques	0	41	69
Pablo Neruda	19 Crepusculario, 1923	19 Crepusculario, 1923 Critical acclaim	0	Not counted	69
Raymond Radiguet	17 Les Joues en feu, 1920	20 Le Diable au corps, 1923 Bestseller	3	Not counted	20
Victor Hugo	20 Odes et poésies diverses, 1822	20 Odes et poésies diverses, 1822 Bestseller	0	Not counted	83
Friedrich Schiller	22 Die Räuber, 1781	22 Die Räuber, 1781 Documented breakthrough	0	Not counted	45
Patrick Modiano	22 La Place de l'Étoile, 1967	22 La Place de l'Étoile, 1967 Prix Roger-Nimier	0	Not counted	Living
Clarice Lispector	23 Perto do coração selvagem, 1943	23 Perto do coração selvagem, 1943 Graça Aranha Prize	0	20	56
Banana Yoshimoto	24 Kitchen, 1988	24 Kitchen, 1988 Kaien Newcomer Writers Prize	0	19	Living
Carmen Laforet	24 Nada, 1945	24 Nada, 1945 Premio Nadal	0	Not counted	82
Charles Dickens	24 Sketches by Boz, 1836	24 The Pickwick Papers, 1836 Documented breakthrough	0	Not counted	58
Ding Ling丁玲	24 在黑暗中 (In the Dark), 1928	24 莎菲女士的日记 (Miss Sophia's Diary), 1928 Documented breakthrough	0	Not counted	81
Edgar Allan Poe	18 Tamerlane and Other Poems, 1827	24 MS. Found in a Bottle, 1833 Baltimore Saturday Visiter prize	6	Not counted	40
Eileen Chang張愛玲	24 傳奇 (Romances (Chuan Qi)), 1944	24 傳奇 (Romances (Chuan Qi)), 1944 Bestseller	0	Not counted	74
F. Scott Fitzgerald	24 This Side of Paradise, 1920	24 This Side of Paradise, 1920 Bestseller	0	Not counted	44
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe	24 Götz von Berlichingen mit der eisernen Hand, 1773	24 Götz von Berlichingen mit der eisernen Hand, 1773 Documented breakthrough	0	Not counted	82
Leo Tolstoy	24 Детство (Childhood), 1852	24 Детство (Childhood), 1852 Critical acclaim	0	Not counted	82
Samanta Schweblin	24 El núcleo del disturbio, 2002	24 El núcleo del disturbio, 2002 Premio del Fondo Nacional de las Artes	0	6	Living
Sayaka Murata	24 Jyunyū (Breastfeeding), 2003	24 Jyunyū (Breastfeeding), 2003 Gunzo Prize for New Writers	0	Not counted	Living
Voltaire	15 Ode sur sainte Geneviève, 1709	24 Œdipe, 1718 Documented breakthrough	9	Not counted	83
Xiao Hong萧红	22 跋涉 (Trudging (joint collection with Xiao Jun)), 1933	24 生死场 (The Field of Life and Death), 1935 Documented breakthrough	2	Not counted	30
Fyodor Dostoyevsky	25 Poor Folk, 1846	25 Poor Folk, 1846 Bestseller	0	Not counted	59
Han Kang	25 여수의 사랑 (Love in Yeosu), 1995	25 여수의 사랑 (Love in Yeosu), 1995 Critical acclaim	0	19	Living
Yu Dafu郁達夫	25 沉沦 (Sinking), 1921	25 沉沦 (Sinking), 1921 Critical acclaim	0	Not counted	49
Zadie Smith	25 White Teeth, 2000	25 White Teeth, 2000 Bestseller	0	Not counted	Living
Assia Djebar	21 La Soif, 1957	26 Les Enfants du nouveau monde, 1962 Prix de la Culture française	5	Not counted	78
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie	26 Purple Hibiscus, 2003	26 Purple Hibiscus, 2003 Commonwealth Writers' Prize for the Best Book	0	Not counted	Living
Ernest Hemingway	24 Three Stories and Ten Poems, 1923	26 In Our Time, 1925 Critical acclaim	2	Not counted	61
Gabriela Mistral	26 Sonetos de la muerte, 1915	26 Sonetos de la muerte, 1915 Juegos Florales (primer premio)	0	7	67
Irène Némirovsky	26 David Golder, 1929	26 David Golder, 1929 Documented breakthrough	0	11	39
Sally Rooney	26 Conversations with Friends, 2017	26 Conversations with Friends, 2017 Sunday Times/Peters Fraser & Dunlop Young Writer of the Year Award	0	4	Living
Alexandre Dumas	24 Nouvelles contemporaines, 1826	27 Henri III et sa cour, 1829 Documented breakthrough	3	Not counted	68
Émile Zola	24 Contes à Ninon, 1864	27 Thérèse Raquin, 1867 Documented breakthrough	3	Not counted	62
Herman Melville	27 Typee, 1846	27 Typee, 1846 Bestseller	0	Not counted	72
Hermann Hesse	21 Romantische Lieder, 1898	27 Peter Camenzind, 1904 Documented breakthrough	6	Not counted	85
Ingeborg Bachmann	27 Die gestundete Zeit, 1953	27 Die gestundete Zeit, 1953 Preis der Gruppe 47	0	Not counted	47
Joël Dicker	25 Les Derniers Jours de nos pères, 2010	27 La Vérité sur l'affaire Harry Quebert, 2012 Bestseller	2	8	Living
Margaret Atwood	22 Double Persephone, 1961	27 The Circle Game, 1966 Governor General's Award	5	Not counted	Living
Mario Vargas Llosa	23 Los jefes, 1959	27 La ciudad y los perros, 1963 Premio Biblioteca Breve	4	Not counted	89
Stephen King	27 Carrie, 1974	27 Carrie, 1974 Documented breakthrough	0	Not counted	Living
Alfonsina Storni	24 La inquietud del rosal, 1916	28 Languidez, 1920 Premio Municipal de Literatura de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires de Poesía	4	Not counted	46
Anna Seghers	28 Aufstand der Fischer von St. Barbara, 1928	28 Aufstand der Fischer von St. Barbara, 1928 Kleist-Preis	0	Not counted	82
Chinua Achebe	28 Things Fall Apart, 1958	28 Things Fall Apart, 1958 Critical acclaim	0	Not counted	82
Emilia Pardo Bazán	25 Estudio crítico de las obras del padre Feijoo, 1876	28 Pascual López, autobiografía de un estudiante de medicina, 1879 Documented breakthrough	3	Not counted	69
George Sand	27 Rose et Blanche, 1831	28 Indiana, 1832 Documented breakthrough	1	Not counted	71
Kazuo Ishiguro	28 A Pale View of Hills, 1982	28 A Pale View of Hills, 1982 Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize	0	9	Living
Rosa Montero	28 Crónica del desamor, 1979	28 Crónica del desamor, 1979 Documented breakthrough	0	Not counted	Living
Almudena Grandes	29 Las edades de Lulú, 1989	29 Las edades de Lulú, 1989 Premio La Sonrisa Vertical	0	18+ 2 posth.	61
Ana María Matute	23 Los Abel, 1948	29 Pequeño teatro, 1954 Premio Planeta	6	Not counted	88
Anna Gavalda	29 Je voudrais que quelqu'un m'attende quelque part, 1999	29 Je voudrais que quelqu'un m'attende quelque part, 1999 grand prix RTL-Lire	0	Not counted	Living
Donna Tartt	29 The Secret History, 1992	29 The Secret History, 1992 Critical acclaim	0	3	Living
Elfriede Jelinek	21 Lisas Schatten, 1967	29 Die Liebhaberinnen, 1975 Documented breakthrough	8	Not counted	Living
Fred Vargas	29 Les Jeux de l'amour et de la mort, 1986	29 Les Jeux de l'amour et de la mort, 1986 prix du premier roman du festival de Cognac	0	19	Living
Herta Müller	29 Niederungen, 1982	29 Niederungen, 1982 Debütpreis des rumänischen Schriftstellerverbandes	0	Not counted	Living
William Shakespeare	29 Venus and Adonis, 1593	29 Venus and Adonis, 1593 Bestseller	0	Not counted	52
Agatha Christie	30 The Mysterious Affair at Styles, 1920	30 The Mysterious Affair at Styles, 1920 Documented breakthrough	0	Not counted	85
Daniel Kehlmann	22 Beerholms Vorstellung, 1997	30 Die Vermessung der Welt, 2005 Bestseller	8	Not counted	Living
Erich Kästner	29 Herz auf Taille, 1928	30 Emil und die Detektive, 1929 Bestseller	1	Not counted	75
Guillaume Musso	27 Skidamarink, 2001	30 Et après..., 2004 Documented breakthrough	3	Not counted	Living
Guy de Maupassant	30 Des vers, 1880	30 Boule de suif, 1880 Documented breakthrough	0	Not counted	42
Haruki Murakami	30 風の歌を聴け (Hear the Wind Sing), 1979	30 風の歌を聴け (Hear the Wind Sing), 1979 Gunzo Prize for New Writers	0	Not counted	Living
Honoré de Balzac	30 Le Dernier Chouan ou la Bretagne, 1829	30 Physiologie du mariage, 1829 Bestseller	0	Not counted	51
Mark Twain	32 The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, and Other Sketches, 1867	30 The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, 1865 Documented breakthrough	0	Not counted	74
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry	29 Courrier sud, 1929	31 Vol de nuit, 1931 Prix Femina	2	6+ 8 posth.	44
Charlotte Brontë	30 Poems, 1846	31 Jane Eyre, 1847 Bestseller	1	4+ 2 posth.	38
Erich Maria Remarque	22 Die Traumbude, 1920	31 Im Westen nichts Neues, 1929 Documented breakthrough	9	11	72
Jin Yong金庸	15 给投考初中者 (For Junior High Entrance Candidates), 1939	31 书剑恩仇录 (The Book and the Sword), 1955 Documented breakthrough	16	15	94
Louisa May Alcott	22 Flower Fables, 1854	31 Hospital Sketches, 1863 Critical acclaim	9	Not counted	55
Michael Ende	31 Jim Knopf und Lukas der Lokomotivführer, 1960	31 Jim Knopf und Lukas der Lokomotivführer, 1960 Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis	0	27+ 5 posth.	65
Olga Tokarczuk	27 Miasta w lustrach, 1989	31 Podróż ludzi księgi, 1993 Polish Publisher's Prize for best debut	4	Not counted	Living
Romain Gary	31 Éducation européenne, 1945	31 Éducation européenne, 1945 prix des Critiques	0	Not counted	66
Arthur Rimbaud	19 Une saison en enfer, 1873	32 Illuminations, 1886 Documented breakthrough	13	Not counted	37
Christa Wolf	32 Moskauer Novelle, 1961	32 Moskauer Novelle, 1961 Kunstpreis der Stadt Halle	0	Not counted	82
Günter Grass	29 Die Vorzüge der Windhühner, 1956	32 Die Blechtrommel, 1959 Documented breakthrough	3	Not counted	87
J. K. Rowling	32 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, 1997	32 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, 1997 British Book Awards, Children's Book of the Year	0	Not counted	Living
Patrick Süskind	32 Der Kontrabaß, 1981	32 Der Kontrabaß, 1981 Bestseller	0	6	Living
Vicki Baum	26 Frühe Schatten, 1914	32 Der Eingang zur Bühne, 1920 Bestseller	6	Not counted	72
Lung Ying-tai龍應台	33 龙应台评小说 (Lung Ying-tai Reviews Fiction), 1985	33 野火集 (The Wild Fire Collection), 1985 Bestseller	0	Not counted	Living
Sanmao三毛	33 撒哈拉的故事 (Stories of the Sahara), 1976	33 撒哈拉的故事 (Stories of the Sahara), 1976 Documented breakthrough	0	15+ 3 posth.	47
Selma Lagerlöf	33 Gösta Berlings saga, 1891	33 Gösta Berlings saga, 1891 Critical acclaim	0	Not counted	81
Harper Lee	34 To Kill a Mockingbird, 1960	34 To Kill a Mockingbird, 1960 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction	0	2+ 1 posth.	89
Heinrich Böll	32 Der Zug war pünktlich, 1949	34 Die schwarzen Schafe, 1951 Preis der Gruppe 47	2	Not counted	67
Marie NDiaye	18 Quant au riche avenir, 1985	34 Rosie Carpe, 2001 Prix Femina	16	Not counted	Living
Delia Owens	35 Cry of the Kalahari, 1984	35 Cry of the Kalahari, 1984 Bestseller	0	4	Living
Jules Verne	35 Cinq Semaines en ballon, 1863	35 Cinq Semaines en ballon, 1863 Documented breakthrough	0	Not counted	77
Leïla Slimani	32 La Baie de Dakhla : Itinérance enchantée entre mer et désert, 2013	35 Chanson douce, 2016 Prix Goncourt	3	15	Living
Gustave Flaubert	36 Madame Bovary, 1857	36 Madame Bovary, 1857 Bestseller	0	6	58
Jane Austen	36 Sense and Sensibility, 1811	36 Sense and Sensibility, 1811 Bestseller	0	4+ 2 posth.	41
Marguerite Duras	29 Les Impudents, 1943	36 Un barrage contre le Pacifique, 1950 Documented breakthrough	7	Not counted	81
Natalia Ginzburg	26 La strada che va in città, 1942	36 Tutti i nostri ieri, 1952 Veillon International Prize	10	Not counted	75
Octavia E. Butler	29 Patternmaster, 1976	36 Speech Sounds, 1983 Hugo Award for Best Short Story	7	13+ 1 posth.	58
Alice Munro	37 Dance of the Happy Shades, 1968	37 Dance of the Happy Shades, 1968 Governor General's Award	0	14	92
Elena Poniatowska	29 Palabras cruzadas, 1961	37 Hasta no verte Jesús mío, 1969 Premio Mazatlán de Literatura	8	Not counted	Living
Hilary Mantel	33 Every Day Is Mother's Day, 1985	37 Fludd, 1989 Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize	4	15+ 1 posth.	70
Lu Xun魯迅	42 呐喊 (Call to Arms), 1923	37 狂人日记 (A Madman's Diary), 1918 Critical acclaim	0	Not counted	55
Molière	38 Les Précieuses ridicules, 1660	37 Les Précieuses ridicules, 1659 Documented breakthrough	0	Not counted	51
Muriel Barbery	31 Une gourmandise, 2000	37 L'Élégance du hérisson, 2006 Prix des Libraires	6	7	Living
Svetlana Alexievich	37 War's Unwomanly Face, 1985	37 War's Unwomanly Face, 1985 Bestseller	0	Not counted	Living
Astrid Lindgren	37 Britt-Marie lättar sitt hjärta, 1944	38 Pippi Långstrump, 1945 Rabén & Sjögren children's book competition, first prize	1	Not counted	94
Juan Rulfo	36 El Llano en llamas, 1953	38 Pedro Páramo, 1955 Premio Xavier Villaurrutia	2	4+ 4 posth.	68
Louis-Ferdinand Céline	38 Voyage au bout de la nuit, 1932	38 Voyage au bout de la nuit, 1932 Prix Renaudot	0	17	67
Michel Houellebecq	35 La Poursuite du bonheur, 1991	38 Extension du domaine de la lutte, 1994 Documented breakthrough	3	Not counted	Living
Laura Esquivel	39 Como agua para chocolate, 1989	39 Como agua para chocolate, 1989 Bestseller	0	12	Living
Ursula K. Le Guin	37 Rocannon's World, 1966	39 A Wizard of Earthsea, 1968 Critical acclaim	2	Not counted	88
Gabriel García Márquez	28 La hojarasca, 1955	40 Cien años de soledad, 1967 Bestseller	12	Not counted	87
George Eliot	39 Scenes of Clerical Life, 1858	40 Adam Bede, 1859 Documented breakthrough	1	Not counted	61
Isabel Allende	32 La abuela Panchita, 1974	40 La casa de los espíritus, 1982 Bestseller	8	34	Living
Daniel Defoe	37 An Essay Upon Projects, 1697	41 The True-Born Englishman, 1701 Documented breakthrough	4	Not counted	70
Maya Angelou	41 I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, 1969	41 I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, 1969 Documented breakthrough	0	Not counted	86
Paulo Coelho	35 Hell Archives, 1982	41 The Alchemist, 1988 Bestseller	6	Not counted	Living
Simone de Beauvoir	35 L'Invitée, 1943	41 Le Deuxième Sexe, 1949 Bestseller	6	22	78
Stefan Zweig	20 Silberne Saiten, 1901	41 Amok, 1922 Bestseller	21	Not counted	60
Bi Shumin毕淑敏	37 保持惊奇 (Staying Amazed), 1989	42 预约死亡 (Appointment with Death), 1994 Documented breakthrough	5	Not counted	Living
Cornelia Funke	30 Die große Drachensuche oder Ben und Lisa fliegen aufs Dach der Welt, 1988	42 Herr der Diebe, 2000 Documented breakthrough	12	Not counted	Living
George Orwell	30 Down and Out in Paris and London, 1933	42 Animal Farm, 1945 Bestseller	12	Not counted	46
Lin Haiyin林海音	37 冬青树 (Winter Green Tree (Dong qing shu)), 1955	42 城南旧事 (Memories of Peking: South Side Stories), 1960 Documented breakthrough	5	Not counted	83
Annie Ernaux	34 Les Armoires vides, 1974	43 La Place, 1983 Prix Renaudot	9	Not counted	Living
Dolores Redondo	40 Los privilegios del ángel, 2009	43 El guardián invisible, 2012 Bestseller	3	8	Living
Theodor Fontane	31 Männer und Helden. Acht Preußenlieder, 1850	43 Wanderungen durch die Mark Brandenburg, 1862 Documented breakthrough	12	Not counted	78
Bernhard Schlink	43 Selbs Justiz, 1987	44 Die gordische Schleife, 1988 Friedrich-Glauser-Preis	1	20	Living
J. R. R. Tolkien	45 The Hobbit, 1937	45 The Hobbit, 1937 Bestseller	0	Not counted	81
Jorge Luis Borges	24 Fervor de Buenos Aires, 1923	45 Ficciones, 1944 Gran Premio de Honor de la Sociedad Argentina de Escritores (SADE)	21	Not counted	86
María Dueñas	45 El tiempo entre costuras, 2009	45 El tiempo entre costuras, 2009 Bestseller	0	6	Living
Roberto Bolaño	23 Reinventar el amor, 1976	45 Los detectives salvajes, 1998 Premio Herralde de Novela	22	17	50
Bertha von Suttner	40 Inventarium einer Seele, 1883	46 Die Waffen nieder!, 1889 Bestseller	6	Not counted	71
Toni Morrison	39 The Bluest Eye, 1970	46 Song of Solomon, 1977 Critical acclaim	7	Not counted	88
Annette von Droste-Hülshoff	41 Gedichte, 1838	47 Gedichte (second collection, Cotta), 1844 Critical acclaim	6	Not counted	51
Elena Garro	42 Un hogar sólido, 1958	47 Los recuerdos del porvenir, 1963 Premio Xavier Villaurrutia	5	Not counted	81
Marcel Proust	25 Les Plaisirs et les Jours, 1896	47 À l'ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs, 1918 Prix Goncourt	22	Not counted	51
Marguerite Yourcenar	18 Le Jardin des chimères, 1921	48 Mémoires d'Hadrien, 1951 Documented breakthrough	30	Not counted	84
Umberto Eco	24 Il problema estetico in San Tommaso, 1956	48 Il nome della rosa, 1980 Strega Prize	24	Not counted	84
Julio Cortázar	24 Presencia, 1938	49 Rayuela, 1963 Documented breakthrough	25	Not counted	69
Karen Blixen	49 Seven Gothic Tales, 1934	49 Seven Gothic Tales, 1934 Bestseller	0	7+ 4 posth.	77
Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach	28 Aus Franzensbad. 6 Episteln von keinem Propheten, 1858	50 Lotti, die Uhrmacherin, 1880 Documented breakthrough	22	Not counted	85
Maryse Condé	42 Hérémakhonon, 1976	50 Ségou, 1984 Bestseller	8	Not counted	90
Johanna Spyri	44 Ein Blatt auf Vrony’s Grab, 1871	52 Heidis Lehr- und Wanderjahre, 1879 Bestseller	8	31	74
Lao She老舍	29 老张的哲学 (Lao Zhang's Philosophy), 1928	52 龙须沟 (Dragon Beard Ditch), 1951 Documented breakthrough	23	Not counted	67
Richard Adams	52 Watership Down, 1972	52 Watership Down, 1972 Carnegie Medal and Guardian Children's Fiction Prize	0	19	96
Nathalie Sarraute	39 Tropismes, 1939	53 Martereau, 1953 Documented breakthrough	14	Not counted	99
Stendhal	31 Lettres écrites de Vienne en Autriche, sur le célèbre compositeur Joseph Haydn (reissued 1817 as Vies de Haydn, de Mozart et de Métastase), 1814	56 La Chartreuse de Parme, 1839 Bestseller	25	13	59
Vladimir Nabokov	17 Стихи (Poems (Stikhi)), 1916	56 Lolita, 1955 Documented breakthrough	39	Not counted	78
Anna Sewell	57 Black Beauty, 1877	57 Black Beauty, 1877 Bestseller	0	1	58
Annie Proulx	45 Great Grapes: Grow the Best Ever, 1980	57 Postcards, 1992 PEN/Faulkner Award	12	Not counted	Living
Miguel de Cervantes	38 La Galatea, 1585	58 El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha, 1605 Critical acclaim	20	6+ 1 posth.	68
José Saramago	25 Land of Sin, 1947	60 Memorial do Convento, 1982 Documented breakthrough	35	Not counted	87
Pierre Lemaitre	55 Travail soigné, 2006	62 Au revoir là-haut, 2013 Prix Goncourt	7	15	Living
Penelope Fitzgerald	59 Edward Burne-Jones, 1975	63 Offshore, 1979 Booker Prize	4	12	83
Laura Ingalls Wilder	65 Little House in the Big Woods, 1932	65 Little House in the Big Woods, 1932 Bestseller	0	8+ 3 posth.	90
Frank McCourt	66 Angela's Ashes, 1996	66 Angela's Ashes, 1996 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography	0	4+ 1 posth.	78

Living writers drop out when sorting by age at death, and writers whose books could not be counted drop out when sorting by books.

What each column measures

First book: The first book published under the author’s name or known pen name: novel, collection, printed play, essay or memoir. A piece in a magazine does not count.
First success: The first work that brought the author public or critical recognition: a major prize, strong sales or a breakthrough the source spells out. It is not always their most famous book.
Books: Books published in the author’s lifetime, all genres, first editions only. Reissues, translations and anthologies do not count. Posthumous books are shown apart. When the source’s bibliography does not allow a sound count, the cell stays empty.
Years of waiting: The year of the first success minus the year of the first book. Zero means the first book was the success.

The sample holds 148 writers: 80 women (54%), 38 writing in French, 37 in English, 24 in German, 22 in Spanish, 11 in Chinese and 16 in other languages. 43 are alive. It is a selection of known authors, so of authors who succeeded: it shows when success came to them, not the odds of succeeding.

Frequently asked questions

What is the average age of a first published novel?

In this table, the median age at the first book is 29, and 13% of the writers were 40 or older.

Am I too old to write a novel at 50 or 60?

6 writers in the table published their first book at 50 or later, including Frank McCourt (66), Laura Ingalls Wilder (65), Penelope Fitzgerald (59), Anna Sewell (57), and Pierre Lemaitre (55).

Which famous authors started writing after 40?

19 writers in the table were 40 or older when their first book came out. Among those who started between 40 and 49: Bertha von Suttner (40), Dolores Redondo (40), Annette von Droste-Hülshoff (41), Maya Angelou (41), and Elena Garro (42).

Which author found success the latest?

In this table, Frank McCourt, at 66, with Angela's Ashes (1996).

How long between the first book and success?

The median gap is 1 year. For 69 writers out of 148, the first book was the success.

How is the first success chosen?

It is the first work the source links to recognition: a prize, strong sales or a breakthrough spelled out in words. Each row gives the reason and links to the page read.

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