The Modern Letter Project talks to Josh Knelman, co-editor of Four Letter Word: Invented Correspondence from the Edge of Modern Romance, about love letters, Leonard Cohen, and the future of letter-writing.

MLP: Hi Josh. Please introduce yourself!
Josh: Hi there. I’m a Toronto-based writer and editor and Four Letter Word is my first edited collection, so I’m a little nervous of course.

I’m spending the next year writing a non-fiction investigative book about international art theft—people who steal paintings, and people who search for paintings that have been stolen. In a way, it’s also a book about love lost and love found. I’ve met a lot of people who have fallen in love with a particular work of art. I guess in one sense, the book is a long and complicated love letter, to all the artwork that has been stolen from our collective culture. It’s called Hot Art.

MLP: Tell us how you and your co-editor Rosalind Porter came up with the idea for this collection, Four Letter Word.
Josh: I have trouble sleeping sometimes. When I do, I often reach for a book I’ve enjoyed--a familiar voice. Three years ago at three in the morning I reread a few pages from Leonard Cohen’s Stranger Music, a collection of his poetry and writing. I came across a letter he’d written that was essentially a love letter; the next morning it was still floating in my mind. At the time, I was fiction editor at The Walrus magazine (in Canada) and I wanted to do something special for the annual Summer Fiction Issue. I thought it would be great find some of my favorite writers and ask them to submit old love letters.

I realized that most of the writers I would want to ask were fiction writers. Initially, I’d thought I would be looking for real love letters--but why? What if I asked the best fiction writers in Canada to pen fictional love letters? I asked Margaret Atwood first. I was lucky; she said yes. Her support set the stage to commission the original series of eight letters including Douglas Coupland, David Bezmozgis, and a love poem from Leonard Cohen. The series took more then six months to coordinate. It was an experiment in fiction, and there were no rules.

Each letter that was delivered was a surprise in terms of story and character. They were unexpected, and intimate, just like real love letters. I sent a copy of the series to my friend Rosalind Porter, who worked at Random House, UK, who wrote an incredible proposal that was accepted by Poppy Hampson, an editor at Chatto and Windus (thank you Poppy). Suddenly we were experimenting on a much grander scale, asking writers from across the world to pen fictional love letters.

MLP: This collection features work from a wide range of authors and artists—Jonathan Lethem to Margaret Atwood to Leonard Cohen. How did you choose whom to include?
Josh: Ros and I approached writers we loved. It was a long process, full of surprises and, yes, rejection. Essentially, we spent over a year and half writing love letters to our favorite writers asking them to pen fictional love letters for the collection. It was a dream job.

MLP: In the title you coin use the phrase, “four letter word.” Why not explicitly use—but imply--the word “love?”
Josh: The unifying theme of the collection is love and letters, although love comes in so many forms, and can feed off so many other emotions: fear, lust, hate, loss, hope… these are all four letter words that are drawn from in these love letters. And love isn’t always what you expect. Certainly, it’s so much more complicated then a Hallmark card and yes, sometimes, love is expressed in less eloquent language and vocabulary. And sometimes it all just comes out wrong in a letter. F*CK.

MLP: What were the criteria for each writers' contributions?
Josh: We asked each writer to pen a fictional letter love letter, between 1000-2500 words. Those were the only rules of the game. We wanted writers to use their expansive imaginations unhindered. There was always a sense of mystery to each new love letter.

MLP: What do you think comprises a modern day letter?
Josh: There are so many forms. I’ve received long text messages that I would count as letters. In fact, in Japan, there are now entire novels that are beamed out in chapters of text. I also think a well crafted email counts as a letter. Of course, nothing is as intimate as a hand written letter, delivered by mail or, even better, by hand. For me, a letter is all about the amount of time and thought that the letter-writer invests.

MLP: Do you think it’s important to preserve the art/craft/practice of letter writing?
Josh: Yes, of course. And I think as long as anyone exists who feels the desire to communicate in a profound way with another human being, the art of letter writing will never vanish. I have to admit it’s been a long time since I’ve received a letter in the mail. Mostly, I get bills—the opposite of love letters.

MLP: The jacket of your book refers to the love letter as a “forgotten custom.” Why do you think it is being forgotten?
Josh: I think sometimes it’s easier to send a quick text message or a fast email. Writing a letter is often about remembering. I don’t exactly think that it’s a forgotten custom, but I do believe we could all spend a little more time remembering, and writing to someone we love.

MLP: We found the piece by Joseph Boyden—a series of missing persons reports filed by a husband about his wife in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina—to be especially moving. Were there pieces you found especially affective?
Josh: I was also especially moved by Joseph’s love letter. It’s a brave experiment that worked, and it builds to heartbreak. What I found surprising about the collection, when Ros and I had received all of the letters, was that without exception, every single letter was so different. One of our fears was that we would receive a lot of letters that were similar, but often these love letters are effective because they have created their own rules.

Jeanette Winterson’s love letter centers around the idea of photographs, and is effective because the writer tells us all about the little intimate details and feelings that would be impossible to discern from looking at a photograph. David Bezmozgis, on the other hand, allows us to read a very intimate letter from a Russian revolutionary who is about to be executed. Only at the end of the letter do we realize it was never delivered. Bezmozgis creates a found, historical document. What is still amazing to me is that each letter succeeds at being effective on its own terms.

MLP: Where do you see the state of the handwritten letter in 10 years? 20? 50?
Josh: As long as people struggle to find a way of expressing the strangest, funniest, and deepest parts of themselves to others, letters, I think, will essentially remain the same. Or, maybe we’ll have a total evolutionary leap and be able to communicate telepathically. If this happens, letters might be in trouble. I don’t like predicting the
future. I’m so bad at it.

MLP: Are you a letter-writer?
Josh: Apologies, but I don’t write and tell. After all, love letters are private, and often, secret.

MLP: Anything else?
Josh: I hope anyone who reads this Q&A sends one love letter to someone who
would be happier for receiving one.

Four Letter Word: Invented Romance from the Edge of Modern Romance just hit bookstores and is also available for purchase HERE. Josh, the book, and some of its authors will also be reading selections from the book at a launch party at Barnes & Noble, Tribeca (97 Warren Street @ Greenwich), on February 11th at 7 p.m.

We're late on the ball on this one, but we're still psyched to tell you about the newest postcard project on our horizon, The Postcard Says...brought to you by the lovely folk at five and a half (who you might recognize from these awesome notebooks).

For this project, all you have to do is sign up and send your address. Five and a half sends a postcard your way with a specific task written on the back. You do that task and send them a photo of your accomplished mission. While sign ups for this round have already filled up, stay tuned to the five and a half blog for the results and to sign up for the next round!

What can we say? With Valentine's Day coming up in just over a week, we've been prowling for the cutest cards to share some stationery love. We had to pick up a set of these "Better Together" cards as soon as we saw them, made by Earmark on Etsy, $15 for a pack of 8 (two each of four designs). Pairing items that sure do go better together--like pencil and paper (ahem, letter writers!)--these cards are crafty, clever, and certainly endearing. Share with your loved one, a good friend, or pick up the Better Together magnets to hang on your refrigerator.

(Above left: Love you Lots Llama; Top right: Love birds; Bottom right: Surrounded by love)

While growing up, Valentine's Day was always one of our favorite holidays. It meant red-and-white lifesaver lollipops, handfuls of red hots, and heart shaped sweet tarts. We decorated shoeboxes for our elementary school classrooms and dropped in those little paper valentines into each person's box, opening it up to discover and reveal our crushes.

(Above left: Say Anything; Above right: Moxie Madness)

Now that we're a bit older, we still love sending valentines to those we love--and not just our significant others. Why not use the 14th of February to be the consummate cupid and send cards to your best friends and family? Here are a few of our favorite Etsy Valentine's picks that you can snap up before next Thursday.

We here at MLP have always considered the sending of a letter--or postcard--a form of art. What is the role, the impact, the aesthetic, of correspondence? How do you choose your stationery, the image on the postcard to send to a loved one--and what will those choices represent? We were thrilled to discover UK photographer Paul Greenleaf's project, Correspondence, which uses both found photography (in postcards) and new art to depict the changing cultural and physical landscape. Greenleaf writes,

"The postcard as a method of communication is being replaced by email, text and picture messaging whilst the language people use to communicate with each other is also evolving.

The written notes from the cards, with all their inherent idiosyncrasies form part of the work, providing a narrative to the photograph and a unique insight into people's lives. I am interested in extending the moment when people visited the location, using their words to bridge the gap between then and now."

See more of Greenleaf's Correspondence project HERE and more of his work HERE.

You may have seen these stamps bouncing around the web, but we wanted to bring attention to them here as well. A new project by artist and designer, Gavin Potenza, pays homage in the form of these pretty darn gorgeous stamps to Otl Aicher, one of the 20th Centuries great German designers. Aicher, a founding member of the Hochschule für Gestaltung in Ulm, is famous for his graphic work for the 1972 Munich Olympics, for creating the fonts Traffic and Rotis, for his book, The World As Design (Die Welt as Entwerf), and much much more.

See more of Gavin's projects here and read more about Otl Aicher here.

Longtime interiors editor at Wallpaper, London Designer Suzy Hoodless showcases gorgeous, gorgeous furniture in her UK showroom. Amongst the pieces we covet is this vintage writing desk from the 1940's. Take a look at other Suzy-Hoodless finds here.

Since 1998, Taiwanese-born installation artist, Lee Mingwei has been showcasing his Letter Writing Project in spaces from the Whitney Museum of American Art to galleries in Australia, Korea, and Japan.

The project invites participants to write the letters they have always meant to, but never taken time for. The artist creates 3-sided rooms out of wood and translucent glass, which contains a desk and writing materials. Visitors enter one of three booths, designed for participants to position themselves mimicking meditative postures, and write a letter to a deceased or otherwise absent loved one, offering previously unexpressed gratitude, forgiveness or apology. They may then seal and address their letters (for posting by the museum or gallery), or leave them unsealed in one of many slots on the wall of the booth, where later visitors may read them.

Fingers crossed that this project will be resuscitated, so we can go participate. In the meantime, check out Lee Mingwei's other intriguing projects here.

Support art--David Horvitz, namely, who wants to use the mail to inspire creative projects. Mail him a designated sum of money (via paypal) to complete one of a list of tasks described as part of his project, Things For Sale That I Will Mail You. Horvitz's creative plans? They range from re-sending money, to documenting Iceland, to going to a psychic, to going to Cuba before Castro dies. Maybe you've been hankering to support the arts, but just didn't know where to start. We think this would be quite a good place.

Spring is coming and we're thinking of bright cheery cards with lots of color. We're big fans of these cute notecards from Winifred Studios on Etsy--hand folded on white linen paper with original design and digital illustrations. $3 per card, 4 for $10, or you can mix and match.