Write Home: Letters to a Younger Me

Write Home: Letters to a Younger Me is a collaborative anthology between the #whatshesaidproject and Communal Pen, filled with wisdom, compassion, and challenge. Forty writers, storytellers, poets, and healers from around the world were asked: What would you like to tell your younger self? What have you learned about caring for your body, mind, and soul? Do you need a hug or a push? What would you reveal about the future? What secrets or surprises might be helpful?

Edited by Shannon Ivey and Melanie McGehee, this anthology provides words of grace to the most intimate of audiences: ourselves, but the diverse set of letters is full of wisdom that will benefit readers of every age.

Purchase

Release Date: May 14, 2026 (At the Communal Pen Season Finale)
List Price: $19.99
Pages: 160
ISBN: 978-1-970030-17-4
Advance Reader Copies Available upon Request

 

 

An abstract yellow envelope with blue flowers on a green watercolor background. The book's title, Write Home: Letters to a Younger Me hovers above the open envelope, with the editor's names, Melanie McGehee and Shannon Ivey, at the bottom.

The Anthology

A collection of 40 letters in prose, epistles, and poems answer the same question: what would you say to your younger self? The answers are as diverse as the contributors, who range from award-winning poet JoAngela Edwins to self-described Alopecia warrior Dr. Alicia Harris. Some authors target their younger selves to a particular age or stage in their lives, others leave it open to interpretation.

Edited by Shannon Ivey and Melanie McGehee of the What She Said project, Write Home weaves together published and emerging writers, all charged with the same prompt: what does a younger you need to hear? The editors held open workshops throughout the Fall of 2025 alongside the call for proposals. McGehee worked extensively with the individual contributors, while Ivey recruited voices from her extensive networks. “I am amazed at the bravery in these letters. These submissions became sacred to me--intimate secrets shared for the self and offered freely to strangers. I found myself scribbling over and over again, I love her," said McGehee. Ivey, who began the #whatshesaidproject, calls it a love project that has been brewing for over a decade.

The anthology is part of the Communal Pen initiative, which began in 2019 as a community writing initiative to capture voices across South Carolina, conducted by the South Carolina Arts Commission’s Rural Arts program. Since joining The Athenaeum Press, stories shared during Communal Pen workshops have been published on a website and in several chapbooks and anthologies, all designed and copyedited by students. Write Home represents the first collaboration where workshops and a call for submissions were purposefully focused on a publication. “Communal Pen is founded on the idea of building community through stories,” said Alli Crandell, director of The Athenaeum Press. “Working with two editors who share this passion has been transformational to our students. We hope that this collection will inspire more individuals to write and share letters to their younger (or even older) selves.”

Credits

Editors

  • A white woman with short spikey brown hair wears a rainbow scarf while sitting on a couch in a retro lobby.
    Shannon Ivey, MFA AEA PCC, is a professional actor, director, TEDx speaker, and ICF-certified coach specializing in storytelling, leadership, and creative empowerment. She is the founder of the award-winning storytelling program and podcast: #whatshesaidproject. Shannon has built a career at the intersection of art, activism, and embodied empowerment. She has directed theatre programs, toured nationally, launched a successful coaching business, and developed transformative programs like Girls Write Camp. A cancer survivor and dedicated creative, she helps others own their power through storytelling and self-expression. Her memoir, Welcome to the Sh*t Show, debuted in February 2026 with the University of SC Press.
  • A white woman with chin-length dark brown hair and glasses sits cross-legged in a grey turtleneck against a white wall.
    Melanie McGehee is an essayist, poet, and storyteller who returned to school in midlife, earning her MFA from Wilkes University after turning fifty. Her work has appeared in The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature, Fall Lines, Peregrine Journal’s Caregiving Folio, Hippocampus, and The Sunlight Press. She reviews books for Mom Egg Review and leads writing workshops, especially for women looking to share their own stories. Melanie is a lifelong resident of South Carolina, with an accent that proves it. And she’s a guest facilitator for Communal Pen!

Contributors (in Alphabetical Order)

  • Heather Branham
  • Laura Brody
  • Morgan Boyd
  • Liona Burnham
  • Susan Michele Coronel
  • Delia Corrigan
  • Linda M. Crate
  • Triston Dabney
  • Candice Daquin
  • Nichole Davis
  • Jo Angela Edwins
  • Michelle Elisburg
  • Dahlia Fisher
  • Leslie Frisbee
  • Tisha Fritz
  • Maria Z. Gardner
  • Alicia P. Harris
  • Patricia Hatch
  • Charlie Hebert-Russell
  • Nathalie Kaupp
  • Jenn Laurenza
  • Lynn Lipinski
  • Dory Maguire
  • Elena Martínez-Vidal
  • Gabriella Sofia Meditz
  • Ed McCall
  • V. Rendina
  • Rumaisa Reza
  • Judy Parceaud
  • Catherine Parceaud
  • Sarah Josephine Pennington
  • Mare Schumacher
  • Tracy Shaw
  • Armethia Sims
  • Melissa Whiteford St. Clair
  • Sybil St. Claire
  • Sara Sobota
  • Marjorie Tesser
  • Lynn A. Volkenant
  • MaryAddison Yates

Production Team

  • Anna Brown, Cover Designer
  • Lilith Yurkin, Communal Pen Lead and Reviewer
  • Kendall Boykin, Interior Designer
  • Alli Crandell, Director, The Athenaeum Press at Coastal Carolina University