A Hemingway Conference in Petoskey this week has drawn a large crowd. In fact, Hemingway Conferences have taken place all over the world from Madrid, Spain and Paris to The Bahamas and Switzerland, yet Petoskey draws the biggest crowd ever. The 2012 International Hemingway Conference is this week.
Michael Federspiel is the President of the Michigan Hemingway Society. He says, “the strongest Hemingway connection is Northern Michigan. The Nick Adams stories are set in Northern Michigan and the Torrents of Spring is set in Petoskey.”
Hemingway’s family spent a lot of time in a cottage on Walloon Lake. This year Petoskey adds a self-guided Hemingway tour that features plaques at each of the sites important to Hemingway’s life and stories.
“The Hemingway family first came to Northern Michigan in 1898 and were so taken with it that they bought property on Walloon Lake,” says Federspiel.
Federspiel says, “Ernest came for the first time in 1899 and would continue to return until 1921. Then he got married in Horton Bay with his wife and lived in Petoskey for a few months.”
On Wednesday, June 20th you can tour the Hemingway’s Windemere cottage that is rarely open to the public. Also, a new exhibit, Hemingway’s Michigan Story opens at the museum this week and will stay open through October.
Modern takes on Hemingway will not be disregarded though, “The Paris Wife was very popular, Paula Mcclain, the author will be speaking at the conference. But every once in a while you get something that brings Hemingway’s personal life into the news or his writing,” says Federspiel.
The Hemingway Conference began Sunday and continues through Friday.
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