The Porter Fund, founded by Little Rock novelists Jack Butler and Phil McMath in 1984, gives a Lifetime Achievement Award to an Arkansas author every five years, and this year's honoree will be Charles Portis, author of "Norwood" and "True Grit" and "Gringos" among others. Portis, notably uncomfortable with attention or public spectacle of any sort, will be celebrated with a $200-per-ticket gala at the Governor's Mansion. The night will feature readings by Jay Jennings, writer and editor of "Escape Velocity: A Charles Portis Miscellany," Roy Reed, the great journalist and nonfiction writer (and former Porter winner), and Roy Blount, Jr., who once said that Portis "could be Cormac McCarthy if he wanted to, but he'd rather be funny."