The key to a good letter is not only in the words and tone you use, but also in the penmanship, the choice of paper, and most of all, the feeling it evokes in its recipient.
Have you ever received a letter where the dotted ‘i’s make your stomach flutter? Perhaps the confident swagger of your tall ‘t’ made someone sit up and take note?. .
That is the power of a handwritten letter. But in the age of text messages, emails and social media, we are in danger of losing this art. The Montegrappa Letter Writing Competition celebrated both the aesthetic of handwriting and well-crafted messages, and the deserving winners had it all.
You can read the prize winning letter, and a list of all the winners, below.
Dear Gabo,
I held your story in my hands. In an instant buildings rose, trains roared where none had been before. Dynasties flourished and perished like magic in clouds of dust molded from words.
Generations like tides, came and went. Fate ruled man while at night cicadas sang. Heat fed upon parched soil during the day, twisting paths like gnarled oack, spurning love and touching souls. Unlike romances from Hollywood, I understood this love was bespoke, borne raw from the earth in turmoil and elation. As flames ignited and spent I lived a decade a day until the finale.
Now, like the memory of smoke, I see Jose walking across Macondo Square and shadows of people I never met, that never were. And yet, if a Buendia had continued the line, the demise of a family might be undone.
Seeking stories sent me to other lands, to write and understand. To know the heat of a scorched sun, create and collect stories, old and young. That far-away place has become an erstwhile home. Perhaps the fate of the Buendia's is already rewritten.
More than a legend but no longer hidden. 'A Hundred Years of Solitude.'
Katherine
First Place: Katherine Rich
Second Place: Teejay Button
Third Place: Maria Vincent