epistolary adj epis·​to·​lary

1: of, relating to, or suitable to a letter 2: contained in or carried on by letters 3: written in the form of a series of letters

It's official. Ink & Ether has joined the Sunday Letter Project! We are official Letter Keepers now. If you have been following along, you already know I believe books and letters are doing the same kind of magic. Both are an act of reaching toward someone and trusting they will meet you there.

So this week, in honor of the Sunday Letter Project, I want to recommend a few books that understand exactly what I mean. These are stories where letters are not just a plot device. They are the whole heartbeat of the thing.

This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone

Two rival agents, warring across the strands of time, fall in love through letters they hide in tree rings, lava flows, and the bones of things that should not still exist. It is proof that even under the worst possible circumstances, people will find a way to write to each other. If that is not an argument for the Letter Corner, I do not know what is.

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

Celie writes to God because she has no one else. Then she writes to her sister because she refuses to stop believing someone is listening. This is one of the most devastating and hopeful examples in all of literature of what it means to put your voice on paper even when you are not sure anyone will ever read it.

Dear Ijeawele by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

A short, sharp feminist manifesto, written as an actual letter to a friend asking how to raise her daughter a feminist. Proof that a letter can be intimate and political at the exact same time.

Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

A lighter pick, if you need one. Two people fall for each other through written words before they ever really meet. Sometimes the page really does know before you do.

The Prompt

And now, this week's letter writing prompt for the basket:

Write to a stranger about a letter you never sent. Who was it for? What did you never say? You do not have to send this one either. But maybe, this time, you should.

Get those introduction letter ready! The Letter Corner will be live at Communitea Coffee by Monday.

Learn more about the Sunday Letter Project and how to find a penpal here.