Introduction to Hemingway’s early life over coffee

Hemingway arrived in Paris in 1921 with first wife Hadley. They discovered the city, visitng museums and cafés. Hemingway worked as a journalist and began writing poetry & short stories in his spare time.

Hemingway struck up a friendship with James Joyce and tried (unsuccessfully) to teach him how to box. He admired Joyce and called him the world's greatest writer.

Hemingway met Sylvia Beach when he turned up at her bookshop Shakespeare and Company, in 1922. The two became good friends and she gave hm a crash course in the classics of literature.

We will visit Hemingway's last flat in Paris, far more posh than his previous ones. While he was living there, Hemingway met Scott Fitzgerald in 1925, shortly after the Great Gatsby was published. The two men hit it off and spent many hours discussing writing and literature.

After publishing his 2nd novel, A Farewell to Arms, Hemingway shot to fame. The novel became the best-selling book in America in under 2 months. His reputation now established, Hemingway became a celebrity in his own right and hosted celebrity guests in his home in Cuba.

During WW2, Hemingway was embedded with American infantry troops as they battled their way from the beaches of Normandy to Paris, liberating the country along the way. Arriving in Paris, he went to "liberate" Sylvia Beach and the Ritz Hotel, where he ordered 51 dry martinins for himself & his men.

Hemingway went on a safari to Africa in 1953. After surviving two plane crashes and burns from a fire, his health was never the same.

As Hemingway's health declined, his drinking increased. He was treated for alcoholism in the Mayo Clinic, where he spent the last 7 months of his life.

Sip a Hemingway Sour where he wrote his 1st novel