Before emails, texts and instant messages, people wrote letters, words carefully chosen, folded into envelopes and sent out into the world.
The National Library of Australia holds millions of them: love letters, political appeals, scientific discoveries and everyday notes about life as it was lived. Many have never been seen. Until now.
In the fascinating new book Postscript: Life, Love and Loss in Australian Letters (NLA Publishing, $26.99), publisher Lauren Smith and the NLA Publishing team have delved into those archives to curate a remarkable selection of historic letters and invited contemporary Australian writers to contribute new letters inspired by them.
Original letters from figures such as Jane Austen, Judith Wright, Henry Lawson and Mem Fox have shaped history, declared love, wrestled with ideas about creativity and ageing, and offered intimate glimpses into their authors’ lives. The new letters, from writers including Kate Forsyth, David Brooks, Maggie Mackellar, Ranjana Srivastava and Robert Skinner, echo and extend those themes, exploring love, politics, creativity, family, health and more.
In a digital age, Postscript reminds us of the unique emotional force of a letter, whether written with pen, typed on a typewriter or sent as a telegram.
This remarkable collection celebrates the enduring power of correspondence and may just inspire readers to pick up the pen themselves.
BIPOC, Disability Themes, Disability Own Voices, Genre Bender, Indigenous Own Voices, LGBTQIA+ Themes, LGBTQIA+ Own Voices
Historical, Poetry, Short Stories
About The Author
Lauren Smith is the publisher at the National Library of Australia.
In her experience at NLA Publishing and previously at Australian Geographic, she has written, edited or published over 100 books, focusing mostly on non-fiction titles that open up Australian history and culture for both adults and children.
The first letter she ever sent was a note slid under her parents’ bedroom door and the last letter she sent was to her goddaughter during the pandemic, which contained a uniquely terrible illustration of a unicorn.
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