The idea for creating an anthology by older writers grew from our own dissatisfaction and yearning. While much of the new work we read by younger writers was intriguing, we longed to hear the voices of older writers in the last decades of their lives—asking questions and searching for insights that mattered to us.

Sitting across the table from each other during a fiction workshop in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 2006, surrounded by many young writers, we soon realized our shared perspectives. Vicky, a transplanted Southerner now living in Minnesota, continues to teach and write; Carol, a transplanted Midwestern now living in North Carolina, is also a teacher and writer. We share a love for literature, a joy in writing, and the perspective that is a long life’s gift.

The value of that perspective has become clear as we read each other’s work. Vicky’s King Lear poem could not have been written at a younger age; Carol’s madman’s story could only be told by one who had survived such isolation.  If our decades of experience continue to inspire each other and our own writing, might many other older voices also join ours?

 

Almost a year after we first read and enjoyed each other’s work, we asked that question in a telephone conversation. Of a Certain Age: Voices of Experience (former title) was born before we had hung up our phones.

Many voices of experience from those of a certain age (over fifty) have joined ours to create this anthology. In the summer of 2009, we completed our work on editing and selecting.

We are pleased to announce that Holy Cow! Press will publish the anthology in the spring of 2010.

Carol Roan

Vicky Lettmann

Editors

                                                          When Last on the Mountain:

                                                          The View from Writers over 50 (new title)