This eighth instalment of BFTK is on letters and letters. It takes the double meaning of this word as its point of dispatch, inviting recipients to think through and respond to — directly and indirectly — ideas around correspondence, addressing and alphabets. What it means to be in correspondence with somebody, the initiation and continuation of this communicative exchange and what happens when it is severed or lost. How to write directly towards a you, to you; to a particular reader, object, locale. The volume is littered with letters. There are letters about letters, letters to letters, letters that crease, fold, tear and rip, letters that are sent and lost, found and read. There are letters that pile up, their combinations arranged and rearranged to form comprehensive linguistic logics, and there are letters that are simply letters. Contributions sit in eight-page signatures, of which there are twenty-six in total. Of the eight hundred bound copies, twenty-six are left unbound, returned to discrete correspondence, loose abécédaire units for exchange — letters to be leafed through and addressed once more.
PLEASE TAKE A LOOK AT YOUR
SHADOW IN THAT MIRROR
Chang Yuchen
(pp.1–8, A)
BESTIARY FOR A NON-GENETIC DESCENDANT
Bhanu Kapil
(pp.9–16, B)
THROW STUFF AWAY
Hannah Regel
(pp.17–24, C)
THE MOON HATH XXX DAYS:
LETTERS FOR LETTERS
Helen Marten
(pp.25–32, D)
WHAT DOES THE LOSS FEEL LIKE?
Meg Miller
(pp.33–48, E, F)
LIGHT UP THE A
Kate Briggs
(pp.49–56, G)
THE POSTCODE CONNECTION
Rebecca Ross
(pp.57–72, H, I)
(LETTER) TO S… LABYRINTH-CORTEX
Michèle Métail, trans. Thea Petrou
(pp.73–80, J)
RACKETY CORRESPONDENCES /
A CORRESPONDING RACKET
Nisha Ramayya
(pp.81–96, K, L)
THE COIN OF THE REALM
Lucie Elven
(pp.97–104, M)
UNFOLDING FOLDED FANTASIES:
A CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE SEATED SCRIBE
Fatema Abdoolcarim
(pp.105–112, N)
DEAR DEAREST DEAR MOTHER
Alice Butler
(pp.113–120, O)
/ DON’T BOTHER THE CREASE
Tice Cin
(pp.121–128, P)
FEELING LETTERS, SEEING BLUE
Gemma Blackshaw
(pp.129–144, Q, R)
LINES OF GRACE AND DISGRACE
Francis Haselden
(pp.145–152, S)
AN ABC OF MIMICRY
Jeffrey Stuker & Jan Tumlir
(pp.153–176, T, U, V)
ADDRESS
Céline Mathieu
(pp.177–184, W)
MY VOICE FOLDS YOU
Thea Petrou
(pp.185–192, X)
A LONG DISTANCE LULLABY
Vibeke Mascini
(pp.193–200, Y)
DEBT OF GOLD CAN BE PAID OFF,
DEBT OF KINDNESS IS CARRIED OVER DEATH
Chang Yuchen
(pp.201–208, Z)
LETTERS ON LETTERS
FROM LETTERS ON LETTERS
Matthew Stuart
(covers)
