An inspired collection of new fiction from some of today’s most celebrated writers, exploring the charm, potency and seductive powers of a classic genre . . . the love letter.

When did you last receive a love letter? Have emails and text messages taken over from this romantic form of communication? Would a love letter by a novelist or poet be better than one written by you or me? How would the literary traits of a writer shape the love letters he or she writes? And might a love letter tell us something about its author their other writing could not?

Editors Joshua Knelman and Rosalind Porter have assembled an exciting and unique collection of new fiction: they’ve asked some of our most celebrated contemporary writers to explore the distinctive form of the love letter to remind us how enticing words can be and perhaps even to resurrect a dying custom. Each of the pieces in this anthology is radically different from the others, each is a testimony to the creative powers of our leading writers today, and each is guaranteed to seduce.

Four Letter Word brings us work from 35 of today’s best writers, including Margaret Atwood, Miriam Toews, David Bezmozgis, Douglas Coupland, Michel Faber, A.L. Kennedy, Audrey Niffenegger, Lionel Shriver, Jan Morris, Jeanette Winterson, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Joseph Boyden, Panos Karnezis, Jonathan Lethem, Graham Roumieu, M.G. Vassanji and Neil Gaiman.

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“A wonderfully varied exercise in creativity. Without doubt, love looks different in the 21st century: harder, more disposable, subject to the whims of the mobile phone and internet technology, which is ironically frequently referred to here. Love at its most sublime is expressed in short spurts, or through a filter of cynicism. This is not the collection for those in pursuit of screaming romance. . . . Ridiculously enjoyable. A true pleasure.” –The Guardian (UK)

“From tales of rapture and repression to humorous exchanges between jilted lovers, the collection presents the reader with a kaleidoscope of ideas on how to approach the subject. . . . This is a seductive anthology which manages to appeal to the head as well as the heart.” Time Out (London)

“The calibre of the 41 writers who have contributed to this potent collection, from Margaret Atwood, Jeanette Winterson, and AL Kennedy to Michel Faber, Hari Kunzru and Neil Gaiman, is testament itself to our lingering fondness for this most seductive of genres. . . . Many of the letters are heartbreaking, crystallising into just a couple of pages the disappointment or pain that reverberates through a whole life. . . . This is a collection to dip into and savour. . . .” Scotland on Sunday

“Each [author] has written of love for every type of relationship, and for every exquisite shade of the emotion. Each letter is a short story, crisp and fully realised . . . [Josh Knelman and Rosalind Porter] have brought wit and passion together in [this] totally original collection . . . [U]nleash[es] the romantic in all of us.” –The Telegraph (UK)

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"reading Four Letter Word is like a wine tasting where all the wines are unique and of the very best quality. Often I felt that I could "taste the grapes", the raw creative origins, from which the letters were distilled."
- Robin E, Saskatchewan

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Introduction

Jonathan Lethem
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Adam Thorpe
Lionel Shriver
David Bezmozgis
Chris Bachelder
A.L. Kennedy
Jeff Parker
Francine Prose
Graham Roumieu
Gautam Malkani
Miriam Toews
James Robertson
Etgar Keret
Mandy Sayer
Jeanette Winterson
Michel Faber
Hisham Matar
Geoff Dyer
Matthew Zapruder
Carl-Johan Vallgren
Joseph Boyden
Neil Gaiman
Valerie Martin
Peter Behrens
Ursula K. Le Guin
Nick Laird
Sam Lipsyte
Panos Karnezis
Jan Morris
Hari Kunzru
Anonymous
Margaret Atwood
Damon Galgut
Audrey Niffenegger
Juli Zeh
Leonard Cohen
Phil LaMarche
M. G. Vassanji
Tessa Brown
Douglas Coupland

Biographies

Acknowledgements

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Joshua Knelman was a founding member of The Walrus magazine. His writing has appeared in The Walrus, Toronto Life, TORO, Saturday Night, Quill & Quire, the National Post and the Globe and Mail. He lives in Toronto.

Rosalind Porter is a Senior Editor at Granta Magazine and has written for the Spectator, the Times Literary Supplement, the Financial Times Magazine and Time Out. She lives in London.

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