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How an author's response to my fan letter propelled me into writing
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I once wrote a fan letter to a writer-hero. The marvel is that I got a response.
The writer was Sir Laurens van der Post, a South African author, conservationist, and philosopher.
He would have been 83 at the time, seven years before his death.
I’d read many of his novels, and his work moved me.
I wanted to let him know.
I received his reply.
I cannot begin to answer you properly but I would hate you to think that its arrival was casual or anything but enormously gratifying and helpful…and I shall keep your letter and read it again from time to time.
His letter created an even deeper bond with me.