Ernest Hemingway, who rose from his Oak Park, Ill., roots to become one of the greatest writers of the 1920s “Lost Generation” expatriate community in Paris, is the author of classics including The Sun Also Rises (1926), For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940) and The Old Man and the Sea (1952). His adventurous stories, famously told through spare, direct prose, take readers from war-torn battlefronts across Europe during both World Wars to the exigencies of the bull-fighting ring in Spain and the far-flung savannas of East Africa. His Nobel Prize-winning writings, along with his mythical public image that ended tragically with his suicide in 1961, make Hemingway one of the most iconic writers of the 20th century.
Now, the complicated and tumultuous life of one of America’s best-known literary artists is revealed with remarkable new insight in journalist Robert K. Elder’s fascinating hardcover coffee table book Hidden Hemingway: Inside the Ernest Hemingway Archives of Oak Park. This invaluable book includes manuscripts, original family photos and intimate correspondence that together reveal new pieces of Hemingway’s life and legacy. Painstakingly researched, this unique biography uncovers a deeply troubled and creative mind for both a new generation and established Hemingway fans alike to discover.
Hidden Hemingway is the work of Elder and co-authors Mark Cirino and Aaron Vetch. Elder, a Chicago-based journalist who is the author of six previous books including The Best Films You’ve Never Seen, will discuss the book at Boswell Book Co. at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, July 20.
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Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
3 p.m., Sunday, July 17
Boswell Book Co.
2559 N. Downer Ave.
Indian-born writer Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is the author of 17 books. Her newest novel, Before We Visit the Goddess, is a tender family saga that follows three generations of women—grandmother, mother and daughter—and the complex relationships and ancestral ties that bind them. Filled with beautiful prose and exquisite narrative detail, Before We Visit the Goddess moves seamlessly from rural Bengal to urban America to uncover the lengths that women will travel to find freedom, love and connection. Divakauruni has received numerous accolades for her work including the American Book Award.
