Dear Internet, Optimism has been part of my nature for as long as I can remember. As a child I remember watching my favourite football team thinking we’d never lose. I’d believe we could win until the very end of a game no matter how badly we were losing or who the...

Dear Internet, Many moons ago, while perusing the dusty shelves of a Cambridge University library, I came by chance across an old and worn copy of Hemingway’s Selected Letters. Several hours later, I had forgotten all about the topic I had visited that library to r...

Dear Philip Goff, I am intrigued by your support of panpsychism and would love to run some things past you. I enjoyed your exchange with Massimo Pigliucci on Collate, although I could sense your frustration that some of his key objections seemed to be based on what ...

Dear Internet, You may have read my earlier open letter in praise of letters, and your presence on this platform suggests you likely already hold some affection for this form of writing. In extolling the virtues of letters, then, I may have been somewhat preaching ...

Dear Darren Henley, I write to you from Cardiff, after leaving the art world of London in 2020 (I am an artist and writer) to explore creative communities outside the capital city. Your book, The Arts Dividend Revisited: Why Investment in Culture Pays, elaborated on all...

Dear Simon Armitage, In response to '70 Notices' You spent a long time looking hard to notice seventy things between greyscale streetlit troughs and Dark and White Peaks, saw a full moon bottled in a drop of dew, felt the full weight of Sheffield and Manchester come ...

Dear Dolly Parton, I love your music and you are one of the most prolific, successful and influential country songwriters of all time. As an aspiring songwriter, I would very much like to ask your advice on getting started. I know the industry has changed immeasurabl...

Dear Timothy Ferris, Over the Easter break, I read your wonderful book, The Mind’s Sky: Human Intelligence in a Cosmic Context. Like you and many others, I am fascinated with the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). It rests at that wonderful boundary between...

Dear Boris Johnson, It’s with a heavy heart I wish to resign from my post as CRO (Chief Rave Officer) at Her Majesty’s Government. Sure, I wasn’t technically voted in, nor technically needed, given your cabinet’s skill in organising parties of their own. But the time’s ...

Dear Pepe Karmel, I have a few questions about artistic merit, art critique, and art history on my mind. And by way of googling, I somehow stumbled onto your papers and publications. So I hope you won’t mind me asking you a few questions about the topic. (For context,...

Dear Taylor Swift, I remember when I was a teenager, I was a real music snob. I didn’t like pop music, I didn’t like music that was too ‘girly’ (I’m a woman by the way, which will prove useful context for this letter), and I was very convinced of the things I did like....

Dear Vivienne Westwood, I am a visual artist, and recently when trying to form some ideas for upcoming projects, I was struck by the way that aesthetics change over time — not only through being reimagined, but through being commercialised. And I was also struck by the inev...

Dear Anthony Horowitz, I had the enjoyable experience of growing up with your Alex Rider books during my childhood, and also being a fan of Sherlock Holmes, it has also been wonderful seeing you continue those stories. I wanted to write to you regarding something that has...

Dear Chris Beardshaw, First of all, congratulations on another Chelsea gold this year for your impeccably designed RNLI show garden. The sheer amount of thought and attention to detail that went into everything from the use of materials – elm and New Forest green oak to e...

Dear Charlie Mackesy, I have enjoyed your work for a long time: the whimsical fluidity of your lines, the delicate colours, and the use of curves, all bring your world to life. But the thing I have enjoyed most of all, is the element of storytelling within your oeuvre, in...

Dear Jacqueline Wilson, I read your books widely as a child and teenager, and they were very impactful in helping me grow up. Now an adult, I’m a musician and artist, and was struck recently by the development of ‘Poptimism’ within music criticism, and wondered whether a si...

Dear Denis Villeneuve, I am a science fiction junkie, and a big fan of your movies. Thank you for giving Blade Runner, Arrival, and Dune the attention and care it deserves. I’m glad these stories get to reach a mass audience. I’m not so sure if they'd fare as well in anoth...

Dear Maria Gianferrari, A few weeks ago, my partner bought a copy of Be A Tree from our local bookstore. She is an early-years educator and read the book to her children recently. The kids loved it. Your story, along with Felicita Sala’s illustrations, warmed them. They had...

Dear Mark Knopfler, I have been a great fan of your songwriting and guitar playing since I was a teenager. I was fairly new to guitar when my mother suggested I listen to Romeo and Juliet. I heard that sparkling fingerpicking on your National resonator, then the casual,...

Dear Peter Wong, I am a Cardiff resident in your Council area, and I noticed recently that the Cardiff Council website notes that you have had some involvement with the organisation Artes Mundi, which is of course an important charity in supporting and developing the...

Dear Natasha Brown, This may sound strange, but I am learning how to write. While I know how to form words, sentences and paragraphs, I am yet to construct anything with rhythm and warmth.  I realized a few years ago in my dreary life as a management consultant that so...

Dear Tracey Emin, A long-time fan of your work, I was struck recently by the words you quoted on Instagram from your friend David Dawson: ‘Painting’s not just about painting but it’s also about waiting.’ I completed my MFA at the Slade School of Fine Art in 2020, wit...

Dear Liz Harris, I have been a fan of your music under the name Grouper for a long time, but I think it was only when I came to record my own songs and make my own album that I began to understand the intricacy of your ‘less is more’ approach to building soundscapes....

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Dear Michelle Donelan, Congratulations on your appointment as Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. You must be all too aware that two of the key issues you have inherited with the office are the privatisation of Channel 4 and the question of the future...

Dear Internet, Story of the residents fighting to shut down the biomedical waste treatment plant in Govandi. It was during the COVID-19 pandemic that I realised that I must join the fight for clean air. As biomedical waste increased tenfold at health facilities an...

Dear Internet, When a nobody like myself writes in letter form to a public figure, there is only a small probability that she will see my words amidst the flood of mail and messages that she inevitably receives. Beyond that, there is an even smaller chance that she...