Editors Note: We're blogging through We Didn't Start the Fire by Billy Joel.
Ernest Hemingway was born in Illinois in July of 1899. When he was a child, his family would go to Michigan in the summer to a house they owned. Ernest enjoyed hunting, boating and camping while he was there.
Hemingway began writing when he was the chief editor for his school paper. When he graduated he did not go off to college, but instead became a reporter for the local newspaper, a job his uncle had arranged for him.
I learned never to empty the well of my writing, but always to stop when there was still something there in the deep part of the well, and let it refill at night from the springs that fed it.Ernest Hemingway
Hemingway published his first book in 1926. The title was ‘The Sun Also Rises’.
Throughout Hemingway’s life, he suffered through anthrax, malaria, pneumonia, skin cancer, hepatitis, diabetes, a ruptured kidney, a ruptured spleen, a ruptured liver, a crushed vertebra, a fractured skull, and even survived two plane crashes, which happened one day after the other. When he arrived at his destination after the second plane crash, he told the reporters covering his death that he was actually still alive.
Hemingway wrote approximately 40 books in his life time, including famous titles such as ‘ ‘The Old Man and the Sea’ and ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls’.
Ernest Hemingway had two houses in Cuba and one in Key West, FL. In his Key West home he had a six-toed cat. His six-toed cat was apparently quite popular in the neighborhood, since the streets around Hemingway’s home are known for their six-toed cats.
Hemingway shot himself in 1961. He was 61 years old when he died. Hemingway’s father had also shot himself.
President Kennedy, who loved the writings of Hemingway, mourned the death of the author.