This is a call-out for handwritten letters from all over the world.
Have you always wanted to write a letter to a particular someone but haven’t, for whatever reason?
Is there something you want to tell another person but it’s a delicate topic, and you’re not sure how they’ll react? A topic so delicate that only a letter will do?
I’m testing a new idea for ABC Radio National that needs letters like these.
To participate, all you have to do is:
- Write that special letter and post it to the address below.
- Include your name and contact details.*
As part of the test run, I’ll select the most compelling letters. Then I’ll track down the intended recipient for each letter and deliver it to them. They’ll read the letter for the first time on the show.
Be as creative as you like in interpreting this call-out. You can send letters of admiration, for instance. I’m also happy to accept typed letters if you have terrible handwriting. Bonus points for letters produced on typewriters.
The deadline for letters for this trial has been extended to Tuesday 15 November. Feel free to send your letter after this date if it would be cathartic for you.
Address:
Expressive Post
PO Box 325
Concord West NSW 2138
Australia
Intrigued by this call-out? Please share it far and wide.
* Note: Although I will know your name, you can choose to remain anonymous to the recipient, for instance, in cases of unrequited love.
This is a lovely idea Julie, there is no more direct way to engage someone in writing than in a handwritten letter, an art that is in danger of disappearing. I think it is because the physicality of the pen on paper is a palpable experience such that the recipient can almost feel the pressure of the fingers on the pen and through to the paper.
Oh, man. I just read this via a BooksActually tweet tonight. Oh, I would actually want for you to track the one I wish to write a letter to, but I don’t think my letter will get to you in time for your deadline. Sigh.
Wonderful move. Let’s make it happen.
What a great idea. Do you know there is a generation of children out there who don’t know how exciting it is to receive a handwritten letter ,in an envelope with a stamp on it from their letter boxes, that the postman has delivered. I have been writing to my grandchildren since I send a card to my grandson once. He was so excited to get his own letter in the mail I have continued doing it and writing letters, to other grandchildren. I never realised that it could be such a thrill but then I remembered how I used to like getting letters. I had pen friends and relatives overseas and it was the normal way to communicate then. My mother and her mother in the UK wrote to each other every week for thirty five years. One letter each way per week. I loved it when the blue airmail letter arrived usually on a Monday from England(even though I didn’t know these people very well, I thought I did!) and it was often my job to put the return blue air mail letter in our post office mail box. Such a big part of my growing up, each letter always contained something special or interesting. Instant communication texts and emails have taken the place of handwritten, personal, takes a bit longer to get there letters and the world is a poorer place for it. Who needs everything instantly? I say lets bring back handwritten letters and snail mail. Great idea!
Hello, I wrote a letter to my son’s donor in 2007, but I had nowhere to post it, only a possible clue to his identity. I’ve just seen this link to Expressive Post
today (13th November 2016). Is it too late to mail a handwritten letter to you and do I need to give you the person’s mailing address, because I don’t know it?
Thank you for offering this opportunity.
Kriss Sherwood