Inspired by Kennedy’s vision of what he called the “New Frontier,” Dad constantly encouraged us to think big and pursue our goals with “vigor,” echoing the President’s words from his many televised press conferences. Winner of The Letter Review Prize for Nonfiction Mourning Bells are Ringing My Dad was a design engineer for a major … Read more
But I knew there was something out there. I knew that, while Citizens hid away after curfew, others ran free. I could hear them through my window, the tiny window in my bedroom in the attic of the house in Streatham. I could hear their distant howls, deep into the night. Winner of The Letter … Read more
“Look at him, Steward. Until the traitors who did this are found, he is the source of your continued existence. He is the beginning and the end of your pursuit. Take your time to examine him.” Winner of The Letter Review Prize for Unpublished Books Graemist PROLOGUE Through the diminishing rains a bell tolled, an alarm ringing out … Read more
I didn’t upset Mam. Continued to live with her, just as she continued to live with her story of the paintings by her great-grandfather, the ‘moonlight man’, Edwin Tate. Who left the dockside tenements to live in a Jacobean Manor overlooking the bay, just like the one on the books. Whose paintings reach six-figures. Whose … Read more
Winner of The Letter Review Prize for Poetry To His Mother Alexei Navalny, (June 4, 1976— February 16, 2024) The tidal forces as you enter a black holeand approach the singularity would tear you apart.And also space and time. It is a small thingto be a mother, a heavy, small thing. To be a body, … Read more
Winner of The Letter Review Prize for Poetry Cause and Effect That’s what happened:his factory was fined for coughing thick smokefrom its stacks, so his boss has him working laterto claw back the shortfall; you stop waiting up for himafter too many nodding nights and roll away in bed;you feel lonelier together and avoid hard … Read more
Winner of The Letter Review Prize for Poetry Winter 2023 The hirsute man sits in the jeweller’s doorway.The dishevelled dog,a constant by his side.Passers-by avert their eyesexcept oneuniformed stranger.He walks towards themwith concerned dismay,crouches to talk,takes the dog away. Colette Lawlor is a biologist who teaches adults and lives on Morecambe Bay, UK. Since her … Read more
Today we have the joy of publishing the current issue of The Letter Review, comprised of the winning entries of The Letter Review Prize (March – April 2024). We are enormously excited to share these new works of literature with our readers. The winners of our July – September round will be announced over the … Read more
Winner of The Letter Review Prize for Short Fiction “Shovel birds in silver tides,” Sammy read aloud from his flippy little notebook. We were huddled on a bench on the wind protected side of the park. We’d just been kicked out of the library for loitering, where Sammy was scribbling down lines he liked from … Read more
Winner of The Letter Review Prize for Short Fiction A majestic lioness bears down upon a helpless young antelope. The carcass of its mauled mother sprawled, bloody, nearby. The tawny calf stands motionless – paralyzed by fear or too innocent to comprehend death – as the powerful jaws close around its delicate neck. However, surprisingly, … Read more