Kevin Fenton, Merit Badges

Join us at Virginia Street Swedenborgian Church for a book launch party for St. Paul author Kevin Fenton and his first novel, Merit Badges, Winner of the AWP Award for the novel.

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Merit Badges follows four friends as they move from The Brady
Bunch to Seinfeld, from junior high to middle management. There is
Quint, whose rebellion frays into self-destruction; Slow, who struggles
to become the world’s first teenage father figure; Chimes, who fears
losing his friends while picking up a 7-10 split; and Barb who escapes
the conformity of Minnisapa only to find herself returning by dark of
night.

"An impressive vitality, droll wit, and affecting nostalgia lift
Fenton's first novel." --Publisher's Weekly

"A beautifully crafted, perceptive and often funny evocation of some
extraordinary, ordinary people." --Shelf Awareness, Robert Gray's Top
10 for 2010 (Bookseller Recommendations)

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Kevin Fenton lives in Saint Paul with his wife Ellen and greyhound Albert. His fiction has appeared in the Northwest Review, the Laurel Review, and the Emprise Review. His writing on graphic design has been anthologized in Looking Closer 2 and Emigre No. 70: The Look Back Issue. For more than two decades, he has worked as an advertising writer and creative director.