For a decade we’ve devoted space in each November/December issue to celebrate debut authors over the age of fifty with first books published during the current calendar year. The writers in their fifties and sixties spotlit in this issue share their unique literary pathways, reflecting on how they took the leap to overcome their fears, their struggles to wake up with the rising sun and write before the days begin, how sharing the stories of their ancestors awakened their creativity, the importance of perseverance—even when “life has the rotten habit of interfering”—and the triumph of growing up and cultivating one’s calmness. As Princess Joy L. Perry notes, “It is only now that I realize I was a real writer all along. … I was a writer before a publishing company finally said yes to me. So are you.” {read}