In a world where seventy is the new fifty, old age isn’t what it used to be. As the proportion of older Australians continues to rise, the lived experience of everyone, be they in care or looking after an aged relative, will be intertwined intimately with the phenomenon of longer lives. But longevity brings with it urgent issues: postponement of retirement, the question of financing extended life, how to forge a society that can accommodate the needs of a majority older population with the dynamism of the young. Edited by Ashley Hay, Griffith Review 68: Getting On takes a timely look at the question of how we age successfully – as individuals, as a society, as a population.