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Earlier this week in The New York Times, authors Leslie Jamison and Benjamin Moser debated whether someone should reach a certain age before writing a memoir. Arguing on behalf of Team Youth, Jamison writes, "Of course someone will look back at his first broken heart with a
different perspective at the age of 40, or 60, or 80...The narratives we tell about our own lives are constantly in flux;
our perspectives at each age are differently valuable. What age gains
in remove it loses in immediacy: The younger version of a story gets
told at closer proximity, with more fine-grain texture and less aerial
perspective."
We agree. While there's certainly something to be gained from self-reflection through an older, more mature lens, we've seen that young writers are more than capable of producing powerful autobiographical work.
Need proof? These nine New York women make it clear that experience doesn't only come with age — and that sometimes, the moments that make for the greatest stories are best recounted well before you're 40.
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