Postcards … from the desk of your favorite author

Yesterday, a writer friend sent me a link to a postcard auction being held by Grub Street, a Boston literary organization. A couple of my former teachers were among the 29 authors who had designed 5 x 7-inch postcards, and she thought I’d get a kick out of seeing them.

And I did.  But I was also mesmerized by the quirky creations the other 27 writers had come up with. Susan Orlean scribbled a story about her first visit to Boston and her stay at the Copley Plaza (complete with an aside about how one of the hotel’s former guests, Rin Tin Tin, had been sued by a woman who claimed he’d attacked her chihuahua). Steve Almond jotted down his real feelings about writing on a postcard decorated with stickers from his child. Ben Percy drew an image of two old men and an ugly baby. Amy Hempel wrote a poem after giving up on years of trying to do just that.

But perhaps more than anything, I was enchanted by these postcards and what they represent. Much like the correspondence that Shaun Usher selects for his blog Letters of Note, which I covered last week, these postcards reveal a layer of personality that’s absent when just looking at words on a computer screen or even a novel. Seeing the authors’ handwriting, the colors they paired together, and their illustrations makes me feel like I know them a little better and want to know them more. And yes, some of them proved to be far better writers than illustrators. But that’s part of their charm—a charm you don’t usually even find in an autographed book.

You can check out the postcards here. At the moment, they’re all going for somewhere between $40 and $150, though I’m guessing most will sell for quite a bit more. You can bid by email, but beware: You could be outbid by an in-person bidder on Friday evening’s A Taste of Grub event. Learn more here.