International writers’ collaberation on show at Whanganui Literary Festival

A letter from Quasimodo to the Queen of Hearts is imagined as part of the Dear 26 literary project. Photo / Getty Images

The Art of the Letter is a collaborative exhibition between the Whanganui District Library and the Whanganui Literary Festival opening in Whanganui this week.

The exhibition’s opening event will start at 10am on Monday, September 11 at the Alexander Heritage Library - Te Rerenga Mai o Te Kāuru.

The exhibition is part of Dear 26, an international project conceived by writers’ group 26.

The creative initiative includes 26 authors from around the world who were randomly assigned a letter of the alphabet.

They then crafted letter exchanges between two fictional characters with names beginning with the assigned letter. Visitors to the exhibition will have the opportunity to read the unique letters, which have also been compiled into a book.

Twelve writers from Aotearoa New Zealand were involved in creating letters, including Sir Bob Harvey and Whanganui-based authors Catherine Macdonald and Jayne Workman, as well as 14 writers from the UK, USA, Eire (Ireland), Northern Ireland, India, the Czech Republic, Switzerland and Australia.

“What would Quasimodo say to the Queen of Hearts, Eeyore to Ebenezer Scrooge, Sam Spade to Sherlock Holmes? These impossible conversations, a tribute to the lost art of letter writing, are moving, funny, poignant and thought-provoking,” said Workman.

“There are characters from novels, plays and poems, as well as different eras, representing fan favourites such as Olive Kitteridge, Hamlet and Zorro, and authors as diverse as Sally Rooney, Janet Frame, Stephen King, Jane Austen, Shakespeare and Murakami.”

Workman, Macdonald and Auckland author Jane Berney will be present at the opening event, sharing insights and anecdotes on Dear 26, which was initiated during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The exhibition opening will run until 12pm on Monday, with a guided tour and coffee, a Q&A session and book signing. The exhibition will continue until Friday, September 26, and will be open daily from 10am-5pm.

For more information, contact Kat Schroyens at kat@whanganuilibrary.com or visit the Whanganui Literary Festival’s event page.