Local Author Joseph Farris Recounts Tales of War at Tonight’s Author Talk & Book Signing

Local Author Joseph Farris Recounts Tales of War at Tonight’s Author Talk & Book Signing

“Dash to Ft. Freudenberg, Maginot Line, Dec. 1944” by Joseph Farris

 

Tonight at the Bethel Public Library at 6:30 p.m., Bethel resident and author Joseph Farris will share cartoons, excerpts and stories from his recently published book, A Soldier’s Sketchbook, an illustrated memoir about his experience as a soldier during World War II. The book was released by National Geographic and contains letters, sketches, snapshots, and mementos by Farris, who, as a teen, left his home in Danbury to go to war.

Farris, a contract cartoonist with The New Yorker since 1971, served on the U.S.S. General Gordon in October 1944 with Company M, 398th Infantry. While in France and Germany, Farris wrote more than 800 letters home from October 1944 through January 1946. The book tells the story in words and pictures of Christmas in the trenches, remembers lost friends and leaders, recounts his changing beliefs about human nature, God, and the “Jerries” (as he calls the Germans).

Farris has had two syndicated features, FARRISWHEEL for the Chicago Tribune Syndicate and PHIPPS for United Features Syndicate. His cartoons and paintings are in the private collections of President Jimmy Carter, Paul Newman, Colleen Dewhirst, William Safire, Paul Mellon and many others. A large selection of Farris’s cartoons from The New Yorker is in the permanent collection of the Morgan Library and Museum in New York City. His cartoons are in the permanent collection of The Bruce Museum in Greenwich CT and the US Army Women’s Museum in FT Lee, VA.

Tonight Joseph Farris will hold an author talk & book signing at 6:30 p.m. at the library to talk about his book, “A Soldier’s Sketchbook,” which will be available for purchase. Registration is required by calling (203) 794-8756 ext. 4.