The Write Launch

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The Write Launch

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Grace Halden

Grace Halden is a lecturer in modern and contemporary literature at Birkbeck College, University of London.

Pen Sketch

It took me three years to read your letter. Back in 2018, when I didn’t really understand the process, I thought ‘pen sketch’ meant an artist’s drawing of the sperm donor. I didn’t look at it as I didn’t want to see you. Not then. I didn’t want to choose a donor based on looks and I didn’t want to identify a stranger on the faces of my prospective children. Later, when I joined groups for donor assisted families, I discovered – by chance when reading a Facebook post – that the so called ‘pen sketch’ was not a picture, it was a letter.
Creative Nonfiction
Issue 90, December 2024
Issues Archive

Grace Halden

Grace Halden is a lecturer in modern and contemporary literature at Birkbeck College, University of London.

Pen Sketch

It took me three years to read your letter. Back in 2018, when I didn’t really understand the process, I thought ‘pen sketch’ meant an artist’s drawing of the sperm donor. I didn’t look at it as I didn’t want to see you. Not then. I didn’t want to choose a donor based on looks and I didn’t want to identify a stranger on the faces of my prospective children. Later, when I joined groups for donor assisted families, I discovered – by chance when reading a Facebook post – that the so called ‘pen sketch’ was not a picture, it was a letter.
Creative Nonfiction
Issue 90, December 2024
Issues Archive
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"Imagination and Creativity transport us to fictional worlds, broaden our understanding of differences among people, expand our knowledge of the environment around us, and give us insight into our innermost self."
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