What is The Sunday Letter Project?

When we opened our bricks-and-mortar stationery shop in 2023, we found that a theme began to emerge: there is a general, human longing for a simpler time. For a time when people wrote letters, lived more slowly, and had more time and space for consideration. So many people who walk through our doors express a quiet sadness about the fact that ‘no one writes letters anymore’.

We started The Sunday Letter Project to try rejuvenate the practice of letter-writing through collective action: small actions coming together to create society-level change and a more caring, connected world.

  • It is a global letter-writing initiative started in September 2025 by Rebecca and Karl of Wildflower Illustration Co. It invites people to take a free pledge to write one handwritten letter every Sunday to their friends, loved ones, strangers or themselves.

  • There are two ways to join the project.

    1. The Pledge

      Participants can make a personal commitment to carve out a moment to write a letter every Sunday. You can sign here to help give us an idea of numbers of participants and receive weekly creative writing prompts, or simply write alongside us privately.

    2. Letter Keeper Network

      Our shop-to-shop pen-pal network uses local independent bookshops, stationery shops and cafes acting as ‘Letter Keepers’ - allowing participants to exchange mail without sharing their home address.

      You can participate in this network without having signed our pledge, and there is no requirement to write to your new pen-pal every Sunday.

    • Human Connection

      We have never been so supposedly connected and yet felt more disconnected. We wanted to do our bit to try and change that.

    • Balance

      Offering a mindful ritual that can provide balance in a screen-filled world

    • Preserving Letter Writing for future generations

      We heard from our customers again and again about how worried they were about a whole generation missing out on the joy of letters.

In a world that shouts continuously for our attention and tries to distract us at every turn, the most powerful action any of us can take is to reclaim small pockets of time for ourselves and to be completely present in them.

We believe that letter-writing offers a unique and joyful route to reclaiming a life of presence in a world of screens. But because it feels as though everyone else is communicating digitally, we realised that collective action is needed to inspire a significant change.

The Sunday Letter Project is therefore a movement to collectively celebrate and return to a more thoughtful mode of correspondence. Not to replace or reject technological communications altogether, but to carve out time for its superior predecessor:

letter writing.

To join the project you make a promise: that you will do your best to carve out time every single Sunday to write a letter. If you like, you can sign our pledge online: this helps us know a tangible number of how many people are writing . But you’re more than welcome to join just by quietly making this promise alongside us.

Who is behind the project?

We are Rebecca and Karl, a husband and wife team based in Cheltenham. We started Wildflower Illustration Co. in 2015 because we believe in the power of a handwritten note to brighten someone’s day or capture a shared memory.

Starting out at the kitchen table of our flat, we moved to a barn studio in 2018. However, in September 2023 we finally achieved our dream of opening a bricks and mortar stationery shop in The Suffolks, Cheltenham. This now houses our studio, shop as well as an event space, where we host creative workshops and events.

We started The Sunday Letter Project as a response to the number of people who come into the shop and say what a shame it is that no one writes letters anymore. We thought, well, maybe we could do something about that. A letter is so much more than just the paper and ink - the handwriting preserves an essence of our loved ones. Memories written down are protected from ever fading. The act of writing itself gives us a much needed pause - it’s the gift of time to the recipient but it’s a gift to yourself, too.

Rebecca wrote a long-form letter explaining the origins and meaning behind the project. You can read it here.

 Who can I write to?

We have also been working on a few ideas of people you could write to, if you would like to actually send your letter in the post, and you’ve written to most of your friends and family already!

Here is a short, non-exhaustive list of ideas:

  • From Me to You Letters, a charity that facilitates the sending of letters to those going through cancer treatment

  • A local care home (please just contact them first to check that they would accept a letter, but most do)

  • A stranger – if you wish to write to a stranger, you can send them to our shop where we will create a basket of letters free to collect by our shop customers. Feel free to narrow this down if relevant, e.g. ‘a letter to a new mother’

The address for the shop is:

Wildflower Illustration Co.

26 Suffolk Parade 

Cheltenham

GL50 2AE

Dear Sunday,

We are always keen to hear from people who have been taking part in the project for a while. We would love to hear how your Sunday Letter has been shaping or changing your life, or any stories from pen-pal pairings taking shape around the world. Please make sure you have permission from anyone mentioned.