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Laurens van der Post was a writer born in South Africa. He writes about the conflicts of having been born into a Boer family, educated by the British who had recently defeated them, and hating the system of apartheid. His attacks on South African apartheid in a magazine he co-founded in his youth, «Voorslag», led to his exile. He spent some time in Japan and later joined the British army in 1939. He served in the Second World War. After the war, he was send on a mission by the British government's Colonial Development Corporation, which took him into the African interior. He began to write some travelogues and novels with influences of Jungian psychology. He saw racial tensions in light of the conflict between our interior battles between our primitive and civilized self, and racism as exteriorizing our interior hatred of the primitive self to what we perceive as primitive in other groups. Other themes of mysticism and interiority occur in his novels, prompting Merton's interest in them. (Source: "Van der Post, Laurens". World Authors 1950-1970. 1975. Wilson Biographies Plus. Online. H.W. Wilson. Bellarmine University Library, Louisville, KY. 18 July 2006. ‹http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com›.)

Charles Lincoln Van Doren was the son of famed poet Mark Van Doren, Mark having been one of Merton's professors at Columbia University. Charles became an scholar and professor at Columbia University, as well, but his legacy was later overshadowed by scandal. He was a long-term contestant on the game show Twenty-One. His winning streak was later revealed as a fraud.

Mark Van Doren won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1940 for his 1939 volume of collected poems and was a literary critic and professor. He had a profound effect on Merton as a professor of English at Columbia University in New York. Van Doren was at Columbia from 1920 to 1959. Merton stayed in contact with Van Doren after leaving Columbia and after entering the monastery. Van Doren selected the pieces for Merton's «Thirty Poems» and helped get them published. Merton also knew Van Doren's wife, Dorothy, and sons Charles and John. Mark Van Doren visited Merton at Gethsemani a few times and met once with him in Louisville. (Source: «The Road to Joy», p. 3.)

Merton writes to Dom Emmanuel Van Gassel, Abbot of St. Benedictus-Abdij, a Cistercian monastery in Achel, Belgium. He was superior of the abbey from 1965-1989.

Mrs. A. Van Horn writes from Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

The Rev. Dale L. Van Meter writes from Medfield, Massachusetts. He was working on a Masters degree in Social Work from Boston College at the time of writing to Merton.

Dom Hubert Van Zeller was a Benedictine monk of Downside Abbey in England and scholar on the monastic life. He authored a number of books and articles on the contemplative life, the scriptures and monasticism.

Fr. Lambert Vandermeulen was a monk of St. Benedictus-Abdij, a Cistercian monastery in Achel, Belgium.

Fr. Joseph Vann was a Franciscan friar and one of the founding fathers of St. Bernardine of Siena College in Loudonville, New York, an extension of St. Bonaventure College.

Maria de Varela was a professor at the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba in Argentina.

Msgr. Béla Varga was Chairman of the Amnesty for Political Prisoners in Hungary Action Committee in New York. He was a Papal Prelate and former President of the Hungarian Parliament from 1946-1947.

James G. Vargiu writes while on vacation in Italy, but permanently resided in Palo Alto, California.

Fr. Venard was a Carmelite priest from a monastery in Austria.

Sr. M. Verenice was a Sister of St. Joseph from Nazareth, Michigan.

Fr. Roman J. Verostko was Staff Editor for Art for «The New Catholic Encyclopedia» and writes from Washington, D.C.

Elisabeth Vester was Secretary of Der Christ in der Welt and writes from Vienna, Austria.

Fr. P.M. Vidal, was a priest and member of the Third Order of Dominicans of the Couvent des Dominicaines de Béthanie at Saint-Morillon, Gironde, France.

Madeleine Viénot writes from Paris, France.

Fr. Joachim Viens was a Trappist monk of St. Benedict's Monastery in Snowmass, Colorado.

Alejandro Vignati was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. At the time of writing to Merton, he was in Lima, Peru. He was a poet, critic and co-authored a Peruvian screenplay. He wrote a study on author Henry Miller as well.

Germaine Vignolle writes from Marseille, France.

Virginia Vigrass was a volunteer teacher at the Quakers' Friends Girls School in Ramallah, Jordan (currently in the West Bank of the Palestinian Territories). She was originally from Cleveland, Ohio, and had been in Ramallah for a year.

Marjorie Villiers was one of the founders, in 1946, of the Harvill Press with Manya Harari. She writes from London, England.

Sr. Joana Villon-Bras writes from the Abadia de Nossa Senhora das Graças in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.

Fr. Vincent Mary was a Passionist priest. He writes from St. Bernard's Hospital in Chicago, Illinois, where he was going to conduct a retreat for the nuns.

Fr. Vincent was a Trappist monk writing from Notre Dame de Sept-Fons Abbey in France.

Sr. Vera Marie of Christ the High Priest (Sr. Vera Lea Virant) was a Carmelite nun from a monastery in Cleveland Heights, Ohio.

Cintio Vitier is a poet, anthologist and literary critic from Havana, Cuba. His early poetry was influenced by the Spanish Nobel laureate Juan Ramón Jiménez. In the late 1950's and 1960's, the Cuban Revolution changed his style. Vitier later credited Merton with giving him spiritual and political guidance during the 1960's. (Source: «The Courage for Truth», p. 235.)

Fr. Urban Voll was a Dominican priest and an editor for the «Catholic Theological Encyclopedia». He writes from Washington, D.C.

Vladimír Vyhlídka was was from Czechoslovakia. He studied for the priesthood in Rome, returned to Czechoslovakia, and later was made a monsignor. He died in Prague, Czech Republic, in 2011.

Fr. Chrysogonus Waddell is a Trappist monk of Gethsemani Abbey who was studying in Rome at the time of this correspondence.

James O. Wade was an editor for the MacMillan Company in New York.

Dom Eusebius Wagner was Abbot of New Clairvaux Abbey in Vina, California.

C. Anthony has served as president and a corporate director of a number of companies after beginning a career in advertising. He is also a board member of many charities. Having studied journalism in college, he continues to writes books, articles and recurring columns.

Countess Waldstein writes from Munich, West Germany.

Fr. V. Walgrave was a Dominican priest from Ghent, Belgium. He often traveled to the United States to preach at retreats and was at the Dominican Motherhouse of St. Mary of the Springs in Columbus, Ohio, at the time of writing to Merton.

Gerald Walker writes from New York.

Susan E. Walker was secretary to Dr. J. Edward Dirks of Yale University Divinity School in New Haven, Connecticut.

Dom Aelred Wall was the founder of Christ in the Desert Monastery in Abiquiu, New Mexico, and was its first superior.

Martha J. van de Walle writes from Belgium.

Fr. Benedict Wallis was a Carthusian monk of Le Grande Chartreuse in France.

Tony Walsh was the founder of the Benedict Labre House in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He was born in Paris, France, to Irish parents and was raise in England and Scotland. After some military service in France during and after World War I, he came to Canada and worked with Native American schools. He worked with the Legion War Services from 1942-1946. After some time of travel and study, he returned to found the Labre House. The members of the house serve the needs of the urban poor. Many early members had experience in the Catholic Worker Movement, and like that group, published a newspaper. The Labre House called theirs «Unity». In 1990, Walsh received Canada's highest civilian honor, the Order of Canada. (Source: "The Teacher: Anthony Walsh." 2004. Website of the Osoyoos Museum. Accessed at the Bellarmine University Library 28 Aug. 2006. ‹http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/Exhibitions/Inkameep/english/teacher/›.)