Sarah Orne Jewett was well known in the 19th century for her novels, short stories, essays and poems. But she was also a prolific letter writer, including the passionate notes she sent to her partner, Annie Fields.

They lived part of the year together in Boston, but when Jewett returned to her family home in South Berwick to work for months at a time, she wrote to Fields nearly every day.

One letter signed “SOJ” reads: “Are you sure you know how much I love you? If you don’t, I can’t tell you, but I think of you and think of you, and I’m always being reminded of you. I am yours, most lovingly.”

So perhaps it is fitting that the U.S. Postal Service will dedicate a stamp to Jewett in 2026. The announcement described her as “a foundational figure in American literary regionalism.” She started publishing as a teenager and wrote more than 300 works, including novels, short stories, essays and poems.

“Often drawing inspiration from people she knew in her Maine village, Jewett created intimate portrayals of her characters and of the landscape and culture that shaped them,” the Postal Service said in a press release. “In her work she sought to highlight the positive spirit of the region, an enduring model of harmony between individualism and communal values. Her strong female characters have led to a renewed interest in her work.”

Jewett was born in her grandfather’s house on Portland Street in South Berwick in 1849. She grew up next door, but she loved her grandfather’s home so much that she used it as the setting for her novel “Deephaven,” published in 1877. She and her sister later inherited the house, which is now a National Historic Landmark and open for tours from June to October. Historic New England also offers digital tours at jewett.house.

Canadian illustrator Mark Summers created the stamp, depicting Jewett in front of the rocky Maine coastline framed by coniferous trees — a nod to her best-known novel, “The Country of the Pointed Firs,” which tells the story of a city woman who spends a summer in the small fictional coastal town of Dunnet Landing.

“I wanted to really tie her to the age she lived in and to the landscape of Maine,” Summers said in the announcement.

The release date and dedication ceremony are still to be announced. The three-ounce Jewett stamp is the 35th in the Postal Service’s “Literary Arts” series.