Yet both sustained the cycle of creative work, Morrison pumping out five major books after receiving the Nobel Prize in Literature (at age 62) and Tuchman producing four major books after the second Pulitzer Prize. Both writers produced more than 40% of their major books after the age of 60.
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It took her âsix or seven years of very interrupted effortâ to produce Bible and Sword. Like Morrison, Tuchman accumulated a stack of rejection slips before finding a publisher, a university press that mainly produced niche books. At age 44, Tuchman had finally become a published writer of historyâ a relatively unknown writer with a small readership, but a published writer nonetheless. And like Morrison, sheâd become compulsive about her work, unable to stop herself, one question leading to another, project after project, book after book.
Like Morrison, she did some of her best work late, receiving a second Pulitzer Prize at age 60 (the first writer to ever receive a second Pulitzer Prize in the category of General Nonfiction) and a National Book Award at age 68. Both Morrison and Tuchman faced a âsuccess cliffâ; this is the type of cliff where a person achieves a level of success and recognitions that could impede further creative work.
Like Toni Morrison, Barbara Tuchman talked and wrote extensively about her specific practices; she even wrote a whole book on her methods, Practicing History.
When Graham came across a particularly good one, sheâd write ânuggetâ alongside the golden find. They did this for years, until theyâd accumulated a great big pile of gleaming nuggets. Only thenâ after six years of culling documents, doing interviews, making transcriptions, and sifting for nuggetsâ did Graham make the definitive decision to write the book, which would take her another eight years to finish and publish. Graham would receive a Pulitzer Prize for her book at age 80.
12. Feeding the Inner Fire (and Doing Great Work Late)
Toni Morrison didnât write Beloved and Jazz, two of the books highlighted in her selection for the Nobel Prize, until well past the midpoint of her life; she published Beloved at age 56 and Jazz at age 61.
Robert plant garnered 86% of his 21 Grammy nominations, and all eight of his wins, after the age of 50. As I write this in 2025, Plant continues his creative work (in his mid-70s), and it is entirely possible that he will bring forth more award-winning music.