In the events series Letters Live, performers read notable letters – old and new, original and written by others – in front of a live audience. In this video from a Letters Live event in New York City in 2018, the celebrated US actor James Earl Jones (1931-2024) reads a letter written by Kurt Vonnegut (1922-2007) from 2006, as the legendary US writer was nearing the end of his life. Responding to New York City students who had asked Vonnegut to visit their high school, he writes back that he no longer appears in public, as he now resembles ‘nothing so much as an iguana’, but with his distinctive melding of humour and insight, makes an impassioned case for the students to ‘practise any art’. Vonnegut’s words find an especially profound resonance as delivered in Jones iconic baritone – another great artist nearing the end of a long life.
On the pleasures of hand-writing letters you’ll never send
Hand-writing letters you’ll never send takes the heat off feelings and lets you look back on drafts of a previous self
by Anandi Mishra
