I know that in a lot of articles about young geniuses, they say “such and such even had an essay [or nonfiction book] published at age [whatever].”
I was wondering though, what’s the youngest age a person has ever published a work of fiction?
Can’t say for sure, but I know that Walter Farley was in high school when he wrote “The Black Stallion.” (He went to Erasmus High School in Brooklyn, in case anyone cares) However, it wasn’t published until the author was 26.
I thought I had a good candidate in Daisy Ashford - she was 9 years old when she wrote The Young Visiters. But like the above example, her book wasn’t actually published until 1919, when she was 28.
First off, you’d have to define exactly what kind of book you’re talking about. A long one? A successful one? One that generated at least some notice by literary critics? I’m sure that some elementary school somewhere in the world has run off a few copies of a collection of poetry and stories by it’s students, some of which would be as young as 6 or 7, but all of those copies would be collecting dust in the school library.
Ally Sheedy wrote a book called She Was Nice To Mice when she was twelve. It’s about a mouse who becomes friends with Queen Elizabeth I. It was published in 1975, and imdb.com says that Ally Sheedy was born in 1962.
It’s a very good book (though short, 95 pages), and I wouldn’t have known the author was a kid, except that on the cover, under her name, it says “age 12” and the back cover says that she had already had some articles published in the Village Voice. It also says that the illustrator, Jessica Levy, was thirteen
The Book of Lists 2 lists eleven authors who were published by age 10, all by major publishers. The list includes:
Allen Dulles, The Boer War: A History (8 years old when published) – Dulles later became director of the CIA.
Hilda Conkling, Poems by a Little Girl (9 years)
Betty Thorpe, Fioretta; or O cessate di piagarmi (10)
David Statler, Roaring Guns (10)
Elizabeth Luling Do Not Disturb (7)
Dorothy Straight How the World Began (6)
And an honorable mention to
Virginia Carey Hudson, O Ye Jigs and Julips (written when she was 10, but not published until almost 70 years later)
Thanks, everybody!
This doesn’t contend for the youngest author ever, but I believe Harper Lee was only about 21 when she wrote "To Kill a Mockingbird. I always thought that was an amazing novel to come from such a young person.
L
The youngest important novelist might be Francois Sagan. She wrote “Bonjour Tristesse” when she was 18. I read it years ago and remember it quite competent. I was looking for childish flaws, and didn’t see any. Not a great book, I’d guess, looking back, but unquestionably extraordinary for her age.
She was 34
Yeah, I figured that out after I posted. I believe I was thinking of Carson McCullers, who really WAS only 23 when she wrote “The Heart is a Lonely Hunter.” (According to the back of my copy of the book.) I read those two books back to back, and for some reason, I get the two authors confused. Some literature buff I am! Thanks for the correct cite!
Well, as soon as I find a publisher there is ‘Godzilla vs. The Soldier Ants’ by Me (age 4).
I believe S.E. Hinton wrote * The Outsiders* when she was sixteen—not sure when it was published, though.