We’re pleased to share some letters that we’ve received over this past summer from book recipients. As noted, in the letter, word gets around about our program and the flow of letters to PLP is non-stop. The fact that readers take the time to share their appreciation for our efforts (using an often precious stamp) is powerful and keeps us intent on our mission to share the joys of books and reading.

We’re very happy to share some of the wonderful thank you letters we’ve received over the past months. These notes have helped keep us warm this unusually cold and wet California winter. Enjoy!

Wow! This is a particularly great batch of letters we’ve received recently. It is our good fortune to have such appreciative book recipients and readers.

We’re so happy to share some more notes of appreciation that we’ve received from book recipients over the past couple of months. Joy oh joy we love to find these kind words tucked in the hundreds of letters we receive each month!

We’re welcoming in the new year with some more uplifting letters and warm holiday greetings from book recipients. It’s always a treat to pull a letter from the current stack and find artwork or kind words from someone who appreciates our efforts. It’s also gratifying because it confirms our books are making it into the hands of eager readers.

We sometimes get requests for very specific books that we stock via remainder orders. Usually someone has seen the book because another incarcerated person at their facility has received it. Word gets out! Sometimes there’s a flurry of letters from a specific prison because our program information has been passed along. We also stamp the inside of books with our address so even if the book recipient doesn’t receive the invoice with the nice note from a volunteer that we send (some prisons are really strict -ugh) they will know that the books came from us. Whatever it takes!

We love getting feedback from book recipients. This arrived in the mail recently and we are sharing it here with the permission of author.

Volunteers have continued to send out many, many packages each month in response to letters received from incarcerated people. They often comment that their facility libraries are still closed due to COVID. So, our efforts here at the Prisoners Literature Project continue to be a lifeline for keen readers. Here are some thank you notes that we’ve received from happy book recipients. We LOVE these letters!

Here’s some wonderful bead art sent to us, as a ‘thank you’ from an incarcerated person receiving books from the PLP.

We’re continuing to work through the pandemic here at Prisoners Literature Project, with individual co-ordinators answering letters solo for safety reasons. And we’re still getting lots of thank you letters from grateful prisoners.

So we thought we’d present three of them here – so we can pass along the sense of gratitude prisoners have when we’re able to get them books with your kind help.

So please keep supporting us, and we’ll keep getting books out to incarcerated people in these trying times.

Sadly, PLP is still out of action because COVID-19 means we can’t meet and pick/pack books.

But a couple of co-ordinators are going in individually to send out just a few packages, & Gina kindly passed along this wonderful thank-you letter from a prisoner. (The start is attached, and the rest transcribed below.)

“To whom it may concern, Wow: first off, I would really like to thank you all for the amazing gift of these books. You will never know how much this has meant to me to receive not only the books, but your thoughts and wishes.

I am a lifer – I’ve been down now almost 19 years, and these are the very first books I’ve gotten…

Just the simple fact that you take the time out of your busy day to do this for convicts who are viewed by the public as unfit or not worth trying to help or educate is truly uplifting to the to the hopeless ordeal I find myself inI’m in a max prison with only my thoughts and these books to keep me company, so I would hope you can truly understand the need I have for such a blessing like this. So thank you once again…

I just recently read a few books that have not only lifted my spirits but changed my outlook on life, so please keep them coming.”