Dear {Person's name}

April 10, 2024 5:02 PM

The USPS declared April to be National Card and Letter Writing Month… 23 years ago. American Library Association has some ideas on epistolary fun within games. The Chicago Public Library has suggestions for epistolary novels. The Universal Postal Union has a letter writing competition for writers aged 9 to 15 on the theme: "Write a letter to future generations about the world you hope they inherit." The Smithsonian National Postal Museum has an epistolary fiction project which includes an extensive if not exhaustive list of novels, starting with Xenophon of Ephesus.

From the National Postal Museum link:

Some classifications of the term ‘epistolary’ include diaries. However, this being the National Postal Museum, we confine our definition to letters written in correspondence form (the inclusion of a salutation) or with the intent to exchange or present the letter for an audience to read.

posted by spamandkimchi (8 comments total)

I hear you can send a postcard to:

Jessamyn
Vermont

And it will get to her. Maybe we should give the USPS a workout and all do this!
posted by hippybear at 6:04 PM on April 10 [2 favorites]

Also, it's difficult to think about epistolary fiction and not get into the whole Griffin And Sabine phenomenon which took hold maybe 30 years ago.

Or even The Screwtape Letters which was all about letters.

I have a couple of other letter-based projects in my brain but they aren't shaking up to the surface at the moment.
posted by hippybear at 6:55 PM on April 10 [2 favorites]

On July 14, 2024, the USPS is raising first class stamps from $.68 to $.74. They are still a great deal!
posted by Marky at 11:23 PM on April 10

USPS is raising first class stamps from $.68 to $.74
Use it or lose it. It costs double €1.40 (USD $1.50) to send 100g in Ireland and €2.20 (USD 2.35) for abroad, putting a bit of a damper on using that medium . . . which results in a price hike each year.
At the start of Coronarama, AnPost, as an anti-isolation project, sent every household in the country 2 post-paid post-cards; saying you could ask for more if required. I blagged a stack off Pete the Post and sent them to everyone in my (Bobby-few-pals) address book including folks who'd broken contact years before. I won't say I got a load back but it was great for morale at both ends.
posted by BobTheScientist at 12:12 AM on April 11 [6 favorites]

There is the MeFi Card Club for the postally inclined.
posted by GenjiandProust at 7:40 AM on April 11 [2 favorites]

The chain letter games from the second link are delightful!
posted by coolname at 7:50 AM on April 11

For epistolary novels, the 18th century British ones are golden.
But Dracula is also a fine one. (Ok, not entirely letters. Also recordings, clippings, receipts, but you get the idea)
posted by doctornemo at 9:35 AM on April 11 [1 favorite]

For epistolary novels, the 18th century British ones are golden.

Though at least one is more like a brick: Richardson's Clarissa, which Amazon indicates is 1534 pages long and weighs over a kilo!
posted by wenestvedt at 10:28 AM on April 11