Letters from Authors

In this day of the instant messaging, texts and email an honest to goodness handwritten letter is a rare thing indeed and a letter from someone famous must be as rare as hen’s teeth.

However back in the day the handwritten letter was the preferred, and often only method of communication and fans would often write to their favourite authors in the hope of a response. I have to say, if you were going to receive a letter from a celebrity then who better than a man, or woman for whom words are their livelihood to be the author. Fortunately letters have a permanence that electronic communications don’t tend to have and many of these wonderful missives have been kept by their recipients who have shared their letters from authors with us, the public.

F.Scott Fitzgerald

In response to a letter received praising his novel The Great Gatsby.

Dear Miss Lane Pride (What a wonderful name!)

Thank you for your most kind and cordial letter — I think that my first books must have antagonized a lot of people because I know that so many approached this with suspicion and hostility; for the first months there were hardly any sales at all, and until Mencken spoke for it the reviews were angry and childish. Now of course it has become a best seller.

Let me tell you how much I appreciate your writing to me — and how much I hope that future books won’t send you scurrying back to your original opinion.

Faithfully yours

C.S Lewis

Lewis was an author who took particular pains to reply to everyone who wrote to him, especially to children who contacted him; this one sent in reply to a letter written by Janet in 1958 who wanted to let the author know how much she enjoyed The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Dear Janet

I am very glad you liked The Lion etc and it was nice of you to write and tell me. The idea in my mind was, “supposing there were other worlds, and if one of them was like Narnia – and if it needed saving – and if Christ went to save it as He came to save us – let’s imagine what shape and name He might have taken there”. And the answer was Aslan.

yours sincerely

C. S. Lewis

JK Rowling

Jo is well known for taking the time to write to her fans, she will often send notes, private messages and Tweets to people who are perhaps having a difficult time and this letter to a survivor of a school shooting is a perfect example of her caring attitude.

“Thank you for your incredible letter; incredible, because you do indeed sound phenomenally like Harry Potter, in your physical resemblance and in your life experience. I cannot tell you how moved I was by what you wrote, nor how sorry I am to hear about your parents. What a terrible loss.

“I know what it is like to be picked on, as it happened to me, too, throughout my adolescence. I can only wish that you have the same experience that I did, and become happier and more secure the older you get.”

Harper Lee

Renowned for shunning the publicity and fame her book brought her a letter from Harper Lee is truly a thing to be treasured and in this sweet apology Harper responds to a fan request for a signed photograph with a beautiful piece of advice instead.

“As you grow up, always tell the truth, do no harm to others, and don’t think you are the most important being on earth. Rich or poor, you then can look anyone in the eye and say, ‘I’m probably no better than you, but I’m certainly your equal.’ “

Beatrix Potter

In responding to a request from a young fan by the name of Phyllis, who had written in asking for her own rabbit Fluffy to be included in her famous Peter Rabbit stories, Beatrix is so sweet in her reply.

“My dear Phyllis,

You have written me such a dear little letter about Fluffy I feel quite sad to disappoint you – I have just begun another book about the fox! If I can do another book that Fluffy can come into – I promise to remember him and ask for his picture again.. “

She goes on to explain about other requests such as a letter lately from a child in Wales who wants a book about a crocodile called Amelia! That I cannot stand! Then there is a small boy in Ireland who wants to know if Jeremy Fisher ever got married, and two want moles,  another wants a donkey named Salome,  another wants a horse book, and another wants hens, and another wanting elephants.

Roald Dahl

When 7 year old Amy sent a rather wonderful gift (a dream in a bottle made from oil, coloured water, and glitter) to the author of her favourite book The BFG he was delighted and wrote straight back to thank her.

“Dear Amy,

I must write a special letter and thank you for the dream in the bottle. You are the first person in the world who has sent me one of these and it intrigued me very much. I also liked the dream. Tonight I shall go down to the village and blow it through the bedroom window of some sleeping child and see if it works.

With love from,”

I think the loss of the letter such a shame, I can’t imagine anyone looking back at electronic correspondence with such affection in fifty years time, it’s so impersonal and so easy to create fakes. I have a letter from the palace in response to a request for one of Princess Anne’s horses (she had so many) and I still treasure it even if the closest it got to the Princess was her PR assistant. I can’t imagine feeling the same about an email. Perhaps we should champion a return to letter writing for those times when a few taps on a keyboard just won’t do.