Letters Left Unspoken
Some words never find their way to the people we love. Some conversations remain unfinished, echoing quietly inside us. This anthology seeks to hold those words. The letters we never sent, the things we wished we could say, and the questions that linger when someone dies by suicide.
Trigger warning: this project deals with grief, suicide loss and difficult emotions.
Call for submissions
Last year, my wife lost her father to suicide. In the wake of that loss, she carried an entire conversation inside her that had never been spoken aloud. She wrote a letter to him, a letter he will never read, but that attempted to bridge absence, love and confusion.
This book begins with her letter. From there, I hope to include letters from others walking similar paths. Each letter becomes a witness: to grief, to love, to anger, to forgiveness, to what remains unspoken. These letters will create a space where people can speak to those they have lost, a place to hold what is tender, painful, unresolved, and sacred.
This is an invitation to acknowledge grief and perhaps to offer solace; to those who grieve and to those struggling with thoughts of ending their life.
If you have lost someone to suicide, and feel you have words that remain unspoken, you are invited to submit a letter.
About the project
As a therapist who works with grief, I have seen how suicide ruptures the connections between people, leaving behind questions, guilt, and love that is left unspoken. This project is an attempt to hold that rupture with care, to offer a container for the voices of those navigating that experience.
It began with my wife’s loss of her father. Writing her letter to him became an act of both remembering and reaching, of transforming grief into a tangible gesture of presence. The book is, in part, a continuation of that act, a way to honour him, and to honour all those who live with the silence that suicide leaves behind.
20% of the book’s profits will be donated equally to CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably) and Samaritans, extending the project beyond reflection into action, in hope of supporting lives and families before and after loss.
By contributing your own letters, you help to build a shared space for connection, care, and the unspoken love that endures even when someone is gone.
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Write a letter addressed to the person you lost.
Suggested length: up to 1,200 words.
You may include your full name, first name only, initials, or remain anonymous.
Letters may be lightly edited for clarity or length, but your voice and message will remain yours.
Please avoid graphic descriptions of suicide methods to keep the book accessible and safe.
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Contributors must be 18 years or older.
Submissions are voluntary.
Contributors will not receive payment for submissions.
Participation does not replace professional mental health support.
Every submission will be read with care and respect, but not all letters may be included in the final book.
Submissions can be withdrawn until the final selection stage.
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Via the “Submit now” button on this page, or:
Send your letter to: chloe@thecharlespractice.com
Include in your email:
Your name (or preferred credit)
Relationship to the person you lost (optional)
Confirmation of permission to consider your letter for publication
Submission deadline: July 31st 2026
