No matter what season, there is often no pastime more pleasant than curling up with a good book. However, this fall, readers will have the chance to not only read their favorite authors, but also to meet them as well. The eleventh annual Fox Cities Book Festival is happening from October 8 to 14 at venues all across the Fox Cities and continues in its mission to connect readers and writers. This year’s festival has something for everyone, including panel discussions, craft presentations, workshops, and author events in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. There are even special events for the kids or for the entire family to enjoy together. There will be some familiar faces at the festival, including Carolyn Porter, author of Marcel’s Letters: A Font and the Search for One Man’s Fate, who will be there to talk about her award-winning book recounting her obsessive quest for answers about Marcel Heuzé, the World War II forced laborer whose handwriting inspired the font. She’ll be speaking on October 8 at 1:30 pm and 6:30 pm, at the Kaukauna Public Library and Gerard H. Van Hoof Memorial Library, respectively. Larry Scheckel will also be presenting at Fox Cities Book Festival. Author of four books, his most recent title, I Wondered About That, Too: 111 Questions and Answers about Science and Other Stuff, is a sequel to his widely popular book I Always Wondered About That and releases on November 1. During the Fox Cities Book Festival, Larry will be presenting his live Sensational Science…

  While book awards are not always something that authors think about while writing, being nominated for one is a special honor and a recognition of talent and hard work. Recently, graphic designer and author Carolyn Porter was announced as a 2018 finalist in the Minnesota Book Awards for her memoir Marcel’s Letters: A Font and the Search for One Man’s Fate (Skyhorse Publishing, June 6, 2017) in the category of Memoir and Creative Nonfiction. The Minnesota Book Awards process begins with book submissions in the fall, followed by two rounds of judging in the winter. The Friends of the St.Paul Library, designated as the state’s Center for the Book, works to coordinate the book award programs and activities. On Valentine’s Day, the Friends of the St. Paul Library hosted a reading of Marcel’s letters at the Hamline Midway Library with heart-shaped cookies as part of their Fireside Reading Series. The Minnesota Book Awards is a statewide series of programs connecting Minnesota authors to readers. The finalists, of which Marcel’s Letters is one of four in the category, were announced last month, and the winners of the award will be announced on April 21, 2018 at the annual Minnesota Book Awards Ceremony. To those who have read Marcel’s Letters, the book’s nomination may come as no surprise, as Carolyn weaves together the topics of World War II, graphic design, genealogy, and personal discovery, making for a memorable and insightful read. Marcel’s Letters begins with Carolyn Porter’s search for the perfect…

Carolyn Porter is a “graphic designer, typography geek, and founder of the graphic design company Porterfolio,” but you may know her as the author of Marcel’s Letters: A Font and the Search for One Man’s Fate. This memoir recounts Carolyn Porter’s journey through designing a font and her quest for answers about Marcel Heuzé, the World War II forced laborer whose handwriting inspired the font. Marcel’s Letters was nominated as a 2018 finalist in the Minnesota Book Awards and won a gold medal award in the category of Memoir/Biography at the Military Writers Society of America’s 2018 Medal Awards in South Carolina. On November 6, the paperback version of Marcel’s Letters was released, and I had the chance to interview Carolyn Porter for Swenson Book Development regarding this exciting news. Audrey Arnold: I can imagine that this journey from writing to publication to paperback release and beyond has been quite the whirlwind ride for you. How have you managed to balance everything? Carolyn Porter: I meet with a lot of book clubs, and I find it laughable when people greet me like some sort of celebrity. I remind them I’m just me. I still live in a small 1950s rambler in White Bear Lake. I still work full time as a freelance graphic designer. I still take my dog for a daily walk around the neighborhood (sometimes in my pajamas). My biggest client hasn’t read the book yet. I find that refreshing, actually. On a day-to-day basis we talk about…