Books
Learn more about the book "Marcel's Letters" and the font P22 Marcel Script, which is based on the handwriting of conscripted WWII laborer Marcel Heuzé
Carolyn Porter, Marcel Heuzé, Marcel's Letters, Handwritten Letters, World War II, P22 Marcel, Typography, Love Story, Reunion, Daimler, Berlin, Marienfelde, STO, Forced Labor, Service du Travail Obligatoire, WWII
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“My father was friends with Marcel Heuzé”

Our conversation began with this astonishing claim: “My father was friends with Marcel Heuzé.”
(Cue the sound of a needle scratching across a record.)

Let me back up. Two weeks ago, I picked up my office phone to hear a 90-year-old woman with a crisp French accent state her name — Nelly Trocmé Hewett — followed by the astonishing claim her father had been friends with Marcel.READ MORE

Marcel’s Letters is a Minnesota Book Award finalist

I was — I am! — humbled and honored to learn Marcel’s Letters is one of four finalists in the Memoir & Creative Nonfiction category of the Minnesota Book Awards. Finalists were chosen “by 27 judges from around the state—writers, teachers, librarians, booksellers, and others from the literary community.”

I am also honored to be a finalist with Amy Thielen for Give a Girl a Knife, Tom Rademacher for It Won’t Be Easy: An Exceedingly Honest (and Slightly Unprofessional) Love Letter to Teaching, and Linda LeGarde Grover for Onigamiising: Seasons of an Ojibwe Year.

Read the official announcement here.

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Update April 21, 2018: Huge congratulations to Linda LeGarde Grover for her win for Onigamiising: Seasons of an Ojibwe Year!

Book Review: Spandau, The Secret Diaries


I just finished reading Spandau: The Secret Diaries by Albert Speer. A friend loaned the book to me long ago; she heard Marcel had been imprisoned in Spandau, and thought the book might be of interest.

Albert Speer was Hitler’s architect and eventually became Minister of Armaments and War Production. During the post-war Nuremberg trial, Speer denounced Hitler, took responsibility for the use of forced labor, and was sentenced to a 20-year prison term. Many other Nazi leaders, including Fritz Sauckel, General Plenipotentiary for Labour Deployment (that is, the man who was in charge of sending men like Marcel to Germany), were hanged.READ MORE

PolitiChicks Book Review

This book captured me from the beginning. I loved Carolyn’s forthright writing style; it was as though she were sitting in my living room talking to me. When Carolyn was thinking about Marcel and his loved ones, I was thinking about Marcel and his loved ones. When she was anxious, I was anxious; when she celebrated, I celebrated. This was a beautiful book, and I highly recommend it. In fact, I’m gifting it for Christmas.

– Abigail Adams, PolitiChicks

WeMentor, Inc. Podcast

Photo of Carolyn Porter and Nancy Meyer

A couple of months ago I met Nancy Meyer, founder of WeMentor, a company that offers programs and services for entrepreneurial leadership development. Once she read the book and discovered I was a freelance designer, Nancy invited me to be part of her podcast interview series, “WeMentor Mondays with Nancy.” This weekly podcast series, which now includes more than 100 episodes, is a collection of conversations with entrepreneurs regarding journeys of self-mastery, leadership and life success. READ MORE

The Bored Saleswoman

A couple of weeks ago, I received a message from a Stillwater shop owner named Michelle. A friend of hers told her about Marcel’s Letters. Her friend believed I must have purchased the letters in Michelle’s Main Street store. The confusion was understandable; Michelle took over the lease of Belle Époque, the store where I bought the letters just months after I purchased them. Michelle’s store, Rose Mille, occupied the space for the following ten years.

Despite the disappointing news I did not buy the letters in Michelle’s store, as we messaged back and forth she wondered if there still might be a connection:READ MORE

“New Font Tells a Story”: Profile by KMSP-TV

I received a phone call on Wednesday, Nov. 29. On the other end of the phone was KMSP-TV reporter Rob Olson, wondering if I would be willing to film a segment later that day. He had just seen a press release from UW-Stout, and wanted to learn more about my font and the book. I had a client call scheduled for mid-afternoon, so I wasn’t able to film that day. But, we agreed to film the next morning. Good news for me: That gave me an extra day to fret about being on camera!

READ MORE

Midwest Book Review

An absolutely engaging and inherently fascinating read from first page to last, Marcel's Letters: A Font and the Search for One Man's Fate is an extraordinary story—one that will linger in the mind and memory long after the book it finished and set back upon the shelf. ... Unreservedly recommended, especially for community and academic library collections...

– Julie Summers, Reviewer, Midwest Book Review

Book Club Questions

Have you selected Marcel’s Letters for your Book Club? Use this list of questions to frame a lively discussion about the book. Or, you know, you can pretend to discuss the book and just drink wine. I know how some Book Clubs roll. I won’t judge.

Do you want me to join you? Drop me an email at carolyn (at) porterfolioinc.com and we can arrange a virtual meeting via Google Hangouts.

Click here to see the BookClub handout

Dissecting the book cover

The book cover has been finalized! I’m delighted with the final product and am grateful for the work of the cover designer, Erin. I’ve heard people remark they like it; that it has “shelf-appeal.” What people may or may not understand by quickly glancing at the cover, though, is that it has specific design elements that work hard to tell its story.READ MORE