Fans of Ernest Hemingway’s literary greatness and vigorous life, including scores of bearded Hemingway look-alikes, are to converge on Key West Tuesday through Sunday, July 18-23, for Hemingway Days 2023. The annual celebration salutes the Nobel Prize–winning author’s writing achievements, sporting pursuits and enjoyment of the island’s easygoing lifestyle.
The festival’s undisputed highlight is the Hemingway® Look-Alike Contest at Sloppy Joe’s Bar, 201 Duval St., a frequent hangout for the writer during his 1930s residence in Key West. Scores of stocky, bearded entrants are to parade across Sloppy Joe’s stage before a judging panel of previous winners during preliminary and final rounds.
Other planned events include a three-day marlin tournament recalling Hemingway’s passion for deep-sea angling, a commemoration of the anniversary of the author’s July 21 birth, a museum exhibit of rare memorabilia from his life, literary readings and scholars’ presentations, Sloppy Joe’s wacky “Running of the Bulls,” a street fair celebrating Key West’s lively spirit, a 5k run and paddleboard race that salutes Hemingway’s sporting interests, and the announcement of the winner of the Lorian Hemingway Short Story Competition coordinated by Ernest’s author granddaughter.
Ernest Hemingway lived in Key West from 1931 until late 1939, penning classics including “For Whom the Bell Tolls” and “To Have and Have Not” in a small writing studio behind his Spanish Colonial residence on Whitehead Street.
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