Why ‘The
Hyphen’?

It sits between two words and holds them together.

It does not ask you to choose one side. It says: both. Always both.

Toronto is built the same way. It holds many things at once. No choosing required.

A HYPHEN IS A SMALL THING THAT DOES QUITE A BIG JOB.

Toronto is full of neighbourhoods that each feel like their own world, and full of kids who live exactly that.

  • Kids who move between two languages before lunch.

  • Kids who carry a whole world inside them through music, food, and family stories.

  • Kids who know neighbourhood shortcuts and which TTC (public transit) route gets them home the fastest.

The Hyphen is a monthly snail mail club built for these kids, and for kids who’d love to learn about Toronto from afar. This is their mail.

Every month, a physical envelope arrives in the mail containing a letter written by a fictional Toronto kid from a specific neighbourhood; their voice, their world, their ordinary everyday.

The various pieces of content within the envelopes are designed to be held, read, kept, and collected.

Over twelve months, a subscriber has an archive of twelve neighbourhoods, twelve characters, and twelve stories, from twelve corners of the same city.

Created by Thomasina Camika, The Hyphen is made and mailed each month from Toronto, Canada with care.

🐌 THE HYPHEN EXISTS BECAUSE ONE PERSON DECIDED IT SHOULD.