Key West visitors can book Hemingway memories

Key West, which historically has had a flourishing population of artists and writers, boasts more designated Literary Landmarks than anywhere else in Florida.

Recently the former Whitehead Street home of American Pulitzer and Nobel prize-winning author Ernest Hemingway received the prestigious designation.
Hemingway lived in Key West for nine years, up to 1939, working on many of his best-known novels and short stories in a first-storey writing studio adjoining his Spanish colonial villa. Experts say 70 per cent of his lifetime work was produced during the period, including For Whom the Bell Tolls, The Snows of Kilimanjaro and the Key West-based To Have and To Have Not, his only novel set in the United States.

Hemingway owned the property until his death in 1961, and in 1964 it became a museum honouring his literary legacy.

The house joins seven other designated literary landmarks on the island, including the former homes of poet Elizabeth Bishop and playwright Tennessee Williams. Some of these landmarks also are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and all can be seen easily while walking or cycling around Key West. Many are open to the public.

At the Ernest Hemingway Home & Museum, visitors can take a guided tour, see his writing studio and typewriter and stroke the descendents of his famous six-toed cats.

The annual Hemingway Days celebration, honouring Ernest’s literary accomplishments and exuberant Key West lifestyle, takes place this year July 20-25.

Scheduled events include a lookalike contest for stocky, white-bearded men resembling Hemingway, which attracts entrants from all over the world. The awards ceremony for a renowned literary competition directed by Hemingway’s granddaughter Lorian Hemingway also takes place, along with author readings and signings and a three-day marlin fishing competition commemorating Hemingway’s passion for game fishing.

www.hemingwayhome.com

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