If you visit Forest Home Cemetery in October, you might spot one grave littered with typewritten thank you notes.

That’s the resting place of Christopher Latham Sholes , the Milwaukeean who invented the QWERTY keyboard and one of the first typewriters. And from Oct. 3-5, QWERTYFEST will honor him, and the keyboard’s local origins, with events appealing to writers and analog geeks alike.

Highlights include the Typewriter Ball – with vendors selling keyboards, typing contests and live music performed on typewriters – as well as a cemetery tour where visitors will leave those typed notes on Sholes’ grave, and a discussion with the man who repairs Tom Hanks’ collection of 250-plus typewriters.

“He’s got some great stories about interacting with Tom,” says QWERTYFEST co-founder and OnM

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