by Former Federal Employees, coming in 2026
Excerpts from some of the letters we have received
Over 150,000 people resigned from the federal government last year. Nothing like that has happened in the history of the United States.
The vast majority of those 150,000 workers opted for the DRP—the Deferred Resignation Program. Elon Musk ran a similar initiative when he took over at Twitter/X. On January 28, 2025, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) followed his lead. OPM’s “Fork in the Road” memo encouraged virtually all non-military federal employees to resign. They could do so via a one-word email:
Upon review of the below deferred resignation letter, if you wish to resign:
Many federal employees had more than one word to say about their departure. We are interested in what they had to say.
Over the course of 2025, many other federal employees, including thousands who didn’t take the DRP, found themselves in positions where they felt they had to resign. Some felt that policy shifts under the new administration went against their sense of the public good. Other workers received instructions that undermined Congressional oversight, violated public trust, or broke federal laws.
Again, we are interested in what they had to say as they left.
In 2026, Bicycle Comics will publish a new anthology: a collection of federal resignation letters. We seek input from all executive branch departments and agencies, from the Department of Agriculture to the National Zoo.
Resignations penned by agency leaders and senior military officers get plenty of media attention, and we’ll publish some of those, of course. But those people tend to land on their feet. We also want to read and publish the letters of everyday employees. We want to hear from park rangers and museum curators, poultry inspectors and bank auditors. Everyone from GS-1 to GS-15.
If you chose to walk away, we want to hear from you.
Your resignation was a moment. Let’s preserve it as part of a historical record.
Notify me when the book comes out
| Agency | Submissions |
|---|---|
| Administration for Children and Families | 1 |
| Citizenship and Immigration Services | 1 |
| Customs and Border Protection | 1 |
| Department of Energy | 3 |
| Department of Homeland Security | 1 |
| Department of Justice | 4 |
| Department of Labor | 1 |
| Department of Transportation | 1 |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | 3 |
| Federal Emergency Management Agency | 1 |
| Federal Highway Administration | 1 |
| Federal Trade Commission | 1 |
| Federal Transit Administration | 1 |
| Internal Revenue Service | 1 |
| National Institutes of Health | 1 |
| National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration | 1 |
| Social Security Administration | 1 |
| US Digital Service | 1 |
| Agencies and departments are tallied once, at the most specific level. Thus, a letter from a former FBI agent would be counted as FBI, not as Department of Justice. Figures are accurate as of early February 2026. Not all letters submitted will appear in the final book. |
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The second edition of Tandem captures the vitality of the 2013 season of The Lit Slam's live shows in San Francisco. The crowdsourced anthology brings you new work from Saeed Jones, Marty McConnell, Daphne Gottlieb, Ryka Aoki, and other nationally-celebrated poets, alongside audience favorites from local San Francisco authors.
