Welcome...
...to the website of the Ernest Hemingway Foundation, more
generally known as the Hemingway Society. We hope that if you have not
joined the Society, you will decide to do so now. Just
click on
Membership and go from there.
Who We Are and What We Do
The Ernest Hemingway Foundation was established in 1965 by Mary
Hemingway, Ernest's widow, "for the
purposes of awakening, sustaining an
interest in, promoting, fostering, stimulating, supporting, improving
and developing literature and all forms of literary composition and
expression." Within that context, the Foundation's activities have
emphasized "the promotion, assistance and coordination of scholarship
and studies relating to the works and life of the late Ernest
Hemingway."
In 1980 at Thompson Island in Boston Harbor, a group of Hemingway
scholars assembled for a conference near the John F. Kennedy
Library (the principal repository of Hemingway manuscripts and
memorabilia) formed the Hemingway Society. After the death of Mary Hemingway in
1986, Ernest's sons Patrick and John Hemingway generously invited the Society to
assume the resources, and duties and functions, of the Ernest Hemingway
Foundation.
Since that time, the Foundation as run by the Society has taken the
lead in advancing Hemingway studies. Among other things, we
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Edit and publish The Hemingway Review, which appears semi-annually in
the spring and fall, and The Hemingway Newsletter, which comes out each
year in winter and summer. These outstanding publications, now edited
by Susan Beegel and Al DeFazio, are mailed free to members of the
Society.
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Hold biennial International Conferences in even-numbered years, generally
alternating overseas sites with those in the United States.
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Award annually one or two $1,000 Smith-Reynolds Awards to support
research and writing on the work and life of Ernest Hemingway. These
competitive awards are made to Society members with worthy projects, and are funded in honor of the memory of two outstanding
leaders in the Society: Paul Smith, our founding president, and Michael
S. Reynolds, Hemingway biographer who was president until shortly before his
death in August 2000.
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Sponsor and fund the annual
PEN/Hemingway Award
for the best first book
of fiction. This $8000 award is presented at the
Kennedy
Library in
Boston each spring. The Society works closely with the Hemingway
collection at the Kennedy Library in other ways as well, for example by
evaluating applications from scholars seeking to do research among the
treasure trove of manuscripts assembled there.
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Organize and chair two sessions on Hemingway at both the MLA (Modern
Language Association) and ALA (American Literature Association) annual
meetings, where members of the Hemingway Society have an opportunity to
present papers and participate in panels.
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Supervise forthcoming major book projects, including an edition of
Hemingway's complete (or nearly so) letters and a full-text version of his
Africa book.
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Above all, encourage the reading and appreciation of the writing of
Ernest Hemingway, and the fellowship of his admirers.
In short, there are many reasons for Hemingway scholars and enthusiasts
to join the Society.
Won't you join us in this important work?
Yours for the Society,
James Meredith, President
If you have any comments about this web site or wish to report a problem with
it, contact Bill Newmiller at webmaster@HemingwaySociety.org.