Stop labelling us writers ‘stale, male and pale’
We are being published less often and our work is ignored, despite being at the peak of our literary powers. But the industry consigning us to the dustbin does so at culture’s peril.
The creation of the Stella Prize for women (and non-binary) writers focused attention on the lack of female writers on Australian prize shortlists. The aim, as I understand it, was to even the ledger, and since its inception, female writers have overtaken men, in many respects.
Most books published locally are by women. In recent times, female writers have dominated the Miles Franklin Literary Award shortlist.
It’s the same in Britain, where five of the six shortlisted writers for the Booker Prize were women (the UK’s bestseller list, by contrast, is still dominated by men, with Lee Child and Richard Osman hard to top, in terms of sales.)
Male writers over 50 are having less luck in Australia. I hesitate to use myself as an example, but I have been writing for 40 years – I turn 64 next year – and I have only received one grant from the (former) Australia Council in more than 32 applications.
In funding circles, I believe older male writers are now being labelled as “stale, male and pale”. We are being published less often, and we are receiving less attention. Most publishers want books by women, and writers festivals tend to support debut writers (again, mainly women) unless you are Christos Tsolkias or Tim Winton.
Do writers, once they turn 50, have fewer ideas? I don’t think so. Celebrated crime writer Elmore Leonard was still writing thrillers in his 70s. Charles Bukowski wrote a letter to his editor, John Martin, when he turned 70 saying: “I’m writing better than I ever have.” The last novel he wrote, Pulp, was one of the funniest and brilliant crime novels of the 1990s. The Old Man and the Sea, by the Nobel laureate, Ernest Hemingway, was written when the author was almost 60. Bryce Courtney and Les Murray were prolific until the end.
I feel writers have an advantage over musicians. We don’t reach our peak of creativity once we turn 50, whereas musicians seldom release commercial hits in their later years. There are a couple of exceptions, like Paul McCartney and Leonard Cohen.
When I began organising poetry and music events in Melbourne, back in the 1990s, I gave gigs to older poets like Pio, Peter Bakowski, Laurie Duggan, John Forbes, Allan Wearne and female poets like Gig Ryan, Lauren Williams and Coral Hull.
I wonder if new literary curators or festivals are aware of older writers, especially males who have contributed to the literary culture.
Mark Tredinnick is an educator and co-publisher of Five Islands Press. Kit Kelen won the 2024 Newcastle Poetry Prize and published the Flying Islands Press. David Musgrave teaches and co-runs Puncher & Wattman. David Brooks has released many books and he has also taught at Sydney University and was the main editor of Southerly Journal for 20 years. Many writers, including me, have contributed to Australian literary culture and not just by writing but we seem to have become cancelled because of our age. We can still produce quality writing and shouldn’t be treated as dinosaurs.
Alexis Wright said when receiving the Creative Australia Lifetime achievement award: “I also want to say I’m not finished yet. I’ve got a lot more writing to come.”
I hope the emerging writers acknowledge and champion the older writer, including males, and do their research on those who came before them and created opportunities for the next generation. Even the great male writers previously mentioned were once new or emerging.
Michael Crane is the author of Urban & Landscape/Ordinary Lives and Poems from the 29th Floor (Flying Islands).
