Come one. Come all. My friends Melissa and Samara (yes! there’s another Samara and we know each other) invite you to tell us your letter-writing stories. We’re hosting an essay contest for all those who love to write (and talk about writing) letters. The rules are as follows:

* Write about a special letter you’ve written someone. When did you write it and who did you write it to? How did you send it? What was the situation surrounding this letter?

Or!

* You can tell us about a letter you’ve received from someone else. How long have you had it? Who sent it to you? What makes it worth holding onto?

* No more than 500 words, please.

* Email submissions to snailmailcampaign(at)gmail(dot)com by April 1st.

We’re excited to hear your responses - and very excited to announce our first-place winner after the entries have been reviewed. The winner will receive a signed copy of my book, For the Love of Letters: A 21st-Century Guide to the Art of Letter Writing . . . and I think there might be some sweet stationery in there too.

Happy writing!

Letter writers, collectors, and historians all hit the tangible jackpot yesterday! Roughly 1,000 historic letters were found hidden away in a filing cabinet in a Swiss laundry room. These epistles were written by the likes of Napoleon Bonaparte, Winston Churchill, John Donne, and Queen Elizabeth I. The missives were collected by a wealthy Austrian banker named Albin Schram who died in 2005. He neglected to tell his family of his astounding collection. The lot of letters is set to be auction off at Christie’s in London on July 3rd. It is estimated that they will yield up to $4.6 million. According to The New York Times, “’One of the rarest letters was written by an apologetic Napoleon on the morning after a furious argument with his wife, Josephine. In a spidery scrawl full of corrections and crossings out, Napoleon wrote, ‘I send you three kisses — one on your heart, one on your mouth and one on your eyes.’” I wonder what the fight was about! She must have called him a tyrant. . .