Snail mail clubs have lately become all the rage, but my poetess guest Kristie started hers — Verse & Sip — two years ago. Through this literary correspondence project, she sends letters, poetry and tea every month to hundreds of readers around the world, from which she has also carefully paired 100 pen pal sets (and counting).
Meanwhile in the digital domain, Kristie shares age-old letterlocking and wax sealing projects with an audience of 179K rapt Instagram followers and another 120K on TikTok. She recently led a letterlocking workshop at the Brontë Birthplace Museum in Yorkshire, England, and plans to lead another at Jane Austen’s House next year.
However the main tool of Kristie’s trade remains her green 1950s Olympia typewriter, which accompanies her on her fantastic Typewriter Poet for Hire events. Just like stationery — and mail clubs! — Verse & Sip is forging a dynamic analog path through the 21st century.
