On the way out

In Competition No. 3036 you were invited to provide a resignation letter in the style of a well-known author. I was inspired to set this challenge by the great William Faulkner, who bowed out with panache from his job as University of Mississippi postmaster: ‘I will be damned if I propose to be at the beck and call of every itinerant scoundrel who has two cents to invest in a postage stamp. This, sir, is my resignation.’ Some entries were resignation letters on the part of the author in whose style they were written; others were written by well-known figures in the style of a given author. Given my somewhat woolly brief, either approach was permissible.

There was much wit and cunning invention on display. Commendations go to Richard Corcoran and Michael R. Burch. The winners take £25 each and the bonus fiver belongs to Bill Greenwell’s Anna Soubry channelling Virginia Woolf.