Last year the post A letter to the author gave rise to some lovely comments on your experiences of getting in touch with writers. I was reminded of the subject today when I read this utterly charming letter from J.R.R. Tolkien to a fan, one Miss Honeybourne. Do pop over there to Letters of Note and read it, or the transcript, and if you have about half an hour to spare you may care to watch this slightly curious 'interview' with Tolkien, first broadcast in 1967; he's engaging, and the views of the Oxford students on his work are a mixture of the quaint and quirky and the predictably perverse.
But back to the present day, and as the use of social media increases and authors become ever more public people, have you been in touch with any (more) and have you had a response to rival the letter above?
What fun! All the more so because I know Honeybourne in Worcestershire well (it must have dropped its 'Church' bit a while ago - indeed, I have a feeling the two Honeybournes may have merged, as they are now known as Old Honeybourne ad New Honeybourne.) I also happened to live opposite a couple with the surname Honeybourne whilst in Worcestershire... a relation, perhaps??
Posted by: Simon T | 14 May 2012 at 10:48 PM
It's a lovely name, whether for place or person.
Posted by: Cornflower | 15 May 2012 at 01:45 PM