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
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.
___
Update April 21, 2018: Huge congratulations to Linda LeGarde Grover for her win for Onigamiising: Seasons of an Ojibwe Year!
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
2850 Bellevue St.
Kansas City Mo.
Dearest Richard:
I rec’d your nice letter so will try and answer it. Here’s goes for nothing and you’ll agree with me when you finish reading it. READ MORE
Agnès Boucon and Nadine Dubois have rediscovered their grandfather thanks to an American graphic designerREAD MORE
12/26/44
Somewhere in France
My Dearest Wife:
Well Christmas is here an gone. It didn’t even seem like Christmas just like another day. Christmas Eve we didn’t get in till about six. After we ate I washed and shaved. Was [illegible due to paper damage] to a little party they were having over in his Co. Then we were going to go to midnight services. READ MORE
25 December 1943
8 P.M.
Dearest Ginny,
A few more hours and our xmas will be over, (4 to be exact). Yours is all over already. In fact you and Mike are more than likely tucked away in bed by now because it is 2 o’clock in Eau Claire.READ MORE
24 December 1943
Dearest little Mother,
Just a short time ago we finished with morning (9 A.M.) sick call. I have had indications that today might be a very busy one so thought I’d better get off your daily letter early.
Tonight is Xmas eve and I can just see you hanging up a little pair of stockings by the chimney with care. What are you giving Mike for Xmas dear? Pretty hard to think of things for a little tyke like that isn’t it? Gosh I’d certainly like to be with you tonight. I will in spirit anyway, especially when I am in church tonight. I’ll say a prayer for the best little family in the world.READ MORE
Dec. 22, 1942
Dearest Wilma:
Received two letters of yours, today. One written the 23rd of November, the other a v-mail letter written the 31st of August, the new and the old.
Don’t you ever change the way you have been writing your sweet letters! I’ll admit they just about knock me off my feet, but it’s just what I want to hear. I wish I could put into words what I have in my heart and mind, but I am afraid I would make a mess of it. Perhaps you’ll remember some of [the] things I told you a long time ago. It all goes double, now.READ MORE
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
Per Daniel Ford of Writer’s Bone, “2017 was a remarkable year for fiction and nonfiction. From fearless debut novelists to established literary veterans at the top of their games, authors provided the artistic tonic we needed to survive a turbulent time both politically and culturally.READ MORE
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