Letters to Our Sons by Stephen Graham and Orly Klein

Welcome

Authors Orly Klein and Stephen Graham sit side by side on a colourful couch in a room with patterned curtains and a window behind them. Orly has dark curly hair, wearing a black blouse and striped trousers. Stephen sits on the right wearing a black long sleeve shirt and dark trousers. Both are facing the camera.

Alt text: Authors Orly Klein and Stephen Graham sit side by side on a colourful couch in a room with patterned curtains and a window behind them. Orly has dark curly hair, wearing a black blouse and striped trousers. Stephen sits on the right wearing a black long sleeve shirt and dark trousers. Both are facing the camera.

Dear Dads,

Hello, and welcome to our Letters to Our Sons portal! We’re so happy you’re here.

As we explain in our video, we’re doing a book, and it’s going to be written by you, the fathers of sons. It’s going to be a collection of letters filled with your thoughts and wisdom that you want to pass down to your lad, and it’s going to be a game-changer in how we raise our boys to be the men we would like them to be.

So if you are a father to a son, whatever age he is, we’d love to hear from you. We want you to write a letter to him, to tell him what you wish you had known when you were younger, what advice you would like to pass on to him, and what – in your opinion – being a man should be about.

Maybe you’re a first-time father, a step-father, maybe you’re divorced, maybe you’ve learned things the hard way, maybe you’re still figuring things out… Nobody’s an expert – but we all have our own unique experiences and understanding of the world.

You don’t need to be a great writer, we just want you to speak from the heart. If you’re a bit stuck, we’ve got some prompts for you which might help inspire you. And by the way, if you want to be anonymous, that’s completely fine, and of course we plan to protect the identity of your son.

We need more of an open and honest conversation between fathers and their sons. This is the book dads will give their kids when they haven’t got the words. When they can’t quite say what it is they want to express. It’s the book a father can leave ‘lying around’ as they notice their teenage son begin to close up and spend more time alone in their bedroom. Or ‘casually’ drop into their suitcase as they’re about to leave home. It’s the book that says ‘I’m here for you’.

Please help us make this book something special, for young men all around the world.

Thanks so much,

Stephen Graham & Orly Klein

From Bloomsbury

Please do not use any personal data that could be used to identify anyone including your son (such as names or specific places) in your letter.
You will be asked for some general demographic information (questions like what is your job, location and ethnicity). Providing this information is voluntary and, if your letter is chosen, may be used in the book to help characterise your Submission. We may edit your letter to ensure it remains anonymous, that it does not contain any personal data and that you will not be identifiable from the letter if published. Bloomsbury reserves the right to further copyedit entries for grammatical cohesion.
We will also ask for your full name and contact information. This is collected for the purposes of you assigning your rights in the Submission to us. This means that once you have made your Submission it will belong to us. We will be able to use it for any purpose. We will, of course, hold this personal data securely and will only use it in accordance with the Privacy Notice.
You will be able to make a Submission from 15 October 2025 10:00 BST to 12 January 2026 23:59 GMT. Once you have uploaded your Submission to the website, you will be able to withdraw it up to 12 February 2026 23:59 GMT by emailing letterstooursons@bloomsbury.com. If you choose to withdraw your letter, it will no longer be considered for publication and will be deleted in accordance with our Privacy Notice.
All Submissions are made voluntarily and without payment, regardless of whether the letter is selected for publication. Stephen Graham and Orly Klein will be making a donation for every letter published to the charity MANUP? and social enterprise Dad La Soul, two organisations that are helping young men struggling with mental health. Bloomsbury will be making a donation to MANUP?.
We make no promises or reassurances that your letter will be selected for publication. The decision around selection is at the discretion of the publisher, Orly Klein and Stephen Graham. You will not be informed whether your letter has been included or not.
Before deciding on whether to submit, please carefully review our Contributor Guidelines, Terms and Conditions, Assignment Agreement and Privacy Notice for more information on how your data (including your letter) will be used. If you are not comfortable agreeing to the details, we kindly recommend that you do not share a letter.