Letters to The Times need to be brief but impactful
T
here is a place of honour on this newspaper’s letters page that has existed since Geoffrey Woolley edited it in the 1950s. It is the “bottom right”, home of the quirky or humorous pay-off.
Earning this coveted position requires the ability to distil a point of view or telling vignette into a brief, impactful letter. Brevity remains the soul of wit, as Shakespeare observed, and this is the essence of the bottom right. Examples can now be savoured en masse in Sir, The Year in Letters, compiled by Andrew Riley, present letters editor of The Times, published by Times Books.
Bottom rights are not meant to change the world; they do not linger over great events. Most are whimsical responses to lighter, minor stories.
