George RR Martin Reveals Depression at 77 as 'Winds of Winter' Delay Stretches Past 15 Years
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Aug 5
George RR Martin Reveals Depression at 77 as 'Winds of Winter' Delay Stretches Past 15 Years
3 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Aug 5
Summary
George RR Martin said he has battled sadness and depression during a “stressful” and “overwhelming” year in his first personal blog post in nearly six months.
Posts on his website since February were written by assistants, Martin said, because he had kept falling behind; he also reflected that “getting old is no fun” ahead of turning 78 in September.
The disclosure lands amid renewed scrutiny of The Winds of Winter, the sixth A Song of Ice and Fire novel, which has been in progress since 2011 and still has no publication date.
Martin said in January he had completed about 1,100 manuscript pages and called leaving the series unfinished “a total failure,” though he added he is not always in the mood to work on it.
Even as the book delay fuels reader criticism, Martin pointed to brighter news this year, including 9 Emmy nominations for HBO prequel A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.