The creator of a pen pal project that has drawn tens of thousands of participants across the globe chats about her new book, ‘Syme’s Letter Writer,’ and the joy and connective power of snail mail.
Is there anything quite as intimate as receiving a good letter—or reading someone else’s? And yet it’s an endangered pleasure in our era of the ephemeral phone call, the thrown-off text. New Yorker writer Rachel Syme was in the stir-crazy early months of the pandemic, scribbling notes to friends and family, when she put out an open call on social media: Was anyone interested in a pen pal? Yes, some 15,000 people.
It’s a very generous space. People give of themselves generously in letters, especially to a stranger. The best letters I usually get from people are their first letter, with the exception of some that have really deepened over the years. People sort of say, Okay, my pen pal is Meg. I don’t know who this person is. I know they live in Austin. I’m going to sit and write my life story out. There’s something really therapeutic about that.
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