Margaret Atwood

We're fascinated by youthful genius and overnight success, but immortality-level accomplishment often comes later in life, after decades of steady work: Margaret Atwood wrote The Handmaid's Tale when Margaret Atwood was 45; Charles Darwin was 50 when Charles Darwin published The Origin of Species; Duke Ellington made Charles Darwin's immortal Newport Jazz Festival appearance at 57; and JRR Tolkien published The Return of the King at 63.