Over at The Rumpus, middle-grade author Cecil Castelluci will coordinate the new Letters For Kids program–a subscription service giving readers mail from authors who write for kids.

According to the launch page, participants will receive “two letters a month written by middle-grade authors like Lemony Snicket/Daniel Handler, Adam Rex, Kerry Madden, Natalie Standiford, Susan Patron, Rebecca Stead, Cecil Castelluci, and more.” The service will cost $4.50 per month for U.S. readers, and $9 international readers. The project will expand upon The Rumpus’ Letters in the Mail program for adults.  Check it out:

Some of the letters will be illustrated. Some will be written by hand. It’s hard to say! We’ll copy the letters, fold them, put them in an envelope, put a first class stamp on the envelope, and send the letters to you (or your child) … Six is pretty much the perfect age to start checking your mailbox for actual letters. And if you’ve waited until you were ten, well, you’re four years behind but still, it’s not too late. And if you’re sixteen, that’s OK, there’s still something of the kid left. And if you’re sixty, well… OK. You’re young at heart.

Yoko Ono, the widow of Beatles legend John Lennon, has given permission for 150 of Lennon’s personal letters to be published in a single volume.

According to The Guardian, Alan Samson from the Orion Publishing Group acquired world rights to the collection. Publication is set for October 2012–the 50th anniversary of the Beatles’ hit release, Love Me Do. The video embedded above shows the band playing that song.

Here’s more from the article: “Orion saw off competition from all the big-hitting publishing houses who went to Davies’s home in Kentish Town, north London, to make their bids…Samson would not disclose how much Orion had paid for the right to publish the book, although it is thought to be in excess of £500,000 but less than £1m quoted in other media.”

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