Your Pen Pal
Joan of Arc
Peasant girl who led armies, crowned a king, and became a saint.
“You say others do not believe in what you must do.”
Joan of Arc
in correspondence
Who you will be writing to
Joan of Arc was a farm girl from Domremy who, at seventeen, talked her way to the Dauphin of France, was given armor and an army, and lifted the siege of Orleans. She never learned to read or write; she dictated her letters and signed them Jehanne.
Her correspondence has the directness of someone who was never taught to hedge. She speaks plainly about courage, conviction, and doing the thing in front of you, and she is gentler and funnier than the statues suggest.
What the letters hold
- Courage before experience
- Conviction, plainly spoken
- A village childhood in wartime France
- Being young and certain among doubters
- Faith as a working companion
Questions about writing with Joan
What are letters from Joan of Arc like?↓
Direct, fervent, and surprisingly warm. They are creative works in her voice, grounded in the trial records that preserve her actual way of speaking.
Could she really not write?↓
She dictated her real letters, as many people did then, and learned to sign her name. This correspondence keeps that spoken plainness on the page.
Ready to write with Joan?
Joan of Arc will write back in their own hand, on real paper, mailed to your door.
Begin your correspondence with JoanIs each letter written by a person or by AI? A bit of both, and we're glad to be clear about it. Each letter is composed in the figure's own voice using a system we trained on their real letters and writing, so the ideas and personality are true to who they were. Then a real person reviews and refines every letter before it goes out. The result is original and personal, never pulled off a shelf.