Ankahi Ansuni

© The Tinkers’ Collective

Event Details:

Thank you for choosing to spend a Sunday evening with the Tinkers' Community at The Last Word.
This meetup is centered around writing, catharsis and community.

1. Getting to know each other over ice-breakers & conversation

- This is an excellent opportunity to meet strangers and connect with like-minded people - to
develop a sense of community (the benefits of this activity are reaped long after the event
is over)
- However, we recommend that you avoid oversharing or sharing any information that may
compromise the anonymity of your letter

2. Reading and responding to each others letters (a collective catharsis)

- As you read anonymous stories of love, regret, grief, joy, anger, enlightenment, struggle,
achievement, loss and so on, you may learn, relate, empathize, acknowledge and respond -
but please don’t invalidate / gaslight (God, NO) / negate / hurt / preach / school the writer

HOW DOES THIS WORK?

PRE-EVENT:

1. Write & print your letter BEFORE the event.

- The letter can be hand-written or typed/printed. Please bring the hard-copy with you as
the bookshop has no printing facility. If you want to print it, do so by Saturday night as
printing shops aren’t open on Sunday.
- You are writing to a real or imaginary person/entity/thing/idea, to express your
thoughts/feelings of love, regret, grief, joy, anger, enlightenment, struggle and so on, i.e.
using this as an opportunity to let go of burden, release yourself from your silence, being
vulnerable, seeing people react to your feelings/thoughts/experiences, understanding each
other’s perspectives, without leaving the safety of anonymity (like journaling, but with
hidden identities)

2. Use a unique pen/fake name to sign it off (for ex: yours not-lovingly, NotYourMom).
- The letter can be short, like 250 words, or longer, say a thousand words. It is important that
you add relevant trigger warnings ( at the top of the letter) if you feel the content might
be triggering for people. Also, everyone has to write because everyone will read - you
cannot choose to be just a reader.

AT ARRIVAL:

3. We will have a little box at the entrance. You will drop your letter (no need for an envelope) in
the box when you arrive, so no one knows which letter is yours (please do this alone and not in
groups).
 Ankahi Ansuni
© The Tinkers’ Collective

4. Ice-breaker: We go around talking to people breaking the ice, getting comfortable (again, avoid
oversharing - esp. nothing that’s related to the content of your letter)

DURING EVENT:

5. Letter-Reading: For the next 90 minutes or so, participants will randomly pick letters from the
box that we will pass around, and read them in silence (subsequently passing them around so
everyone gets to read and respond to more than a few).
- You will have small post-its/sheets to write notes / responses to the letters you read..
These responses can be comforting words, words of affirmation, acknowledgement, your
own experience, anything that uplifts, not isolates or invalidates.
- You will address these notes to the pen-names mentioned on the letters so they reach the
right person at the end of the event.
- During this activity, if you feel overwhelmed with emotions, you're free to step out for a
while. Do let us know if you do - we have people you may want to talk to in such situations.

6. 10 Minutes Break: Gather yourself, think about the past 90 minutes and how much we learnt
about others in it - maybe stretch, check out the books, get a glass of water.

7. Live Letter-Writing: To wrap up, you will draw on this experience to write to your future self; an
advice, something to remember about the day, a poem, prose, a story, a drawing, a comic strip -
anything that you would want to say to yourself, today, tomorrow or 5 years later. If you feel
comfortable, you can share it with us or with others around you. If not, you can keep it to
yourself. We will seal it for you and you will take it home to open at a later date.

EVENT END:

8. We will collect the responses/notes left by the readers for the writers, and organize them
according to pen-names at an isolated counter - when you are leaving, you can go (alone), pick
up the ones for your pen-name and step out, thus ensuring anonymity again.

9. We will also want to keep the anonymous letters. Our team doesn't get to participate in the
event but we do feel connected to you in more ways than you know. We want to read your
letters too. However, if you want to take your letter back, just leave a little note at the end of
your letter saying "I'll take this back with me." and we will leave it on the counter for you.

See you on Sunday 5th February 2023 at 4 pm sharp! Please don’t be late.

The Tinkers’ Collective