03 Jun Stories for the mature audience
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The writer Claire Baldry has also begun a website to feature books that defy ageist stereotypes
When I was younger, all I wanted to read was southern fiction. I still love me some Eudora Welty or Flannery O’Connor, but, of course, my tastes and interests have expanded and changed as I’ve grown older. Doesn’t everyone’s?
Like just about every other segment of mainstream media, publishing doesn’t exactly get that. The older you are, the less you count as a consumer. Writer Claire Baldry knew this to be true herself. She wondered aloud (on Facebook) why it was hard to find books that were actually about older people–real older people, not cartoony, stereotypical sketches. In response to her query, she heard a chorus of assenting voices–so many that she decided to made a website called Books for Older Readers.
I earned about Baldry and her work thanks to Howard Lovy of the Alliance of Independent Authors. He also produces a podcast called Indie Voices. This week’s episode of Gracefully cribs from one of his latest, where he introduces you to Baldry and Maggie Christensen, a writer who describes her work as focused on “mature heroines coming to terms with changes in their lives.” Well: Isn’t that all of us?
This week in New York, the publishing industry hosted its annual convention, Book Expo. Claire, Howard, and Maggie all represent those who aren’t part of the mainstream publishing business, but rather a rising number of people involved in self-publishing.