Writer Argues that Awards Honor Young Writers Over “Late Bloomers”

April 29, 2015

Meryl StreepMeryl Streep’s development of The Writers Lab, a program of New York Women in Film & Television that seeks to develop screenplays by female writers who are forty years old and older, is her attempt to combat ageism in Hollywood.

“When I was forty, I was offered three witch [roles],” Streep said to People magazine. “I was not offered any female adventurers or love interests or heroes or demons... I was offered witches because I was ‘old’ at forty.”

In response to Streep’s program, Robin Black, who self-identifies as a “late blooming” writer and has written two books of fiction, wrote a New York Times editorial criticizing the value placed on “young” and “emerging” writers with such honors as the New York Public Library’s Young Lions Fiction Award and the National Book Foundation’s 5 Under 35.

“I applaud the goal of supporting writers as they are starting out,” Black wrote, “but there is a problem when the awards benefit only young writers, usually on their first or second book, as opposed to writers of any age who are at that stage.”

She added, “Age-based awards perpetuate the notion that there is a sanctioned norm for when one should get started in a career. For this reason, the remedy is not to be found in awards for 5 Over 50 or 9 Over 90, though I appreciate the intentions behind the few that exist for older emerging writers. The remedy is to take age out of the matter altogether, and focus on [the] stage.”

Do you agree or disagree? Let us know either way in the comments.

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