Happy Deathday Mr. Hemingway!

On July 2nd, in 1961, American writer Ernest Hemingway was found in his Idaho home, with a self inflicted gunshot wound through the head. He was 61 years old and is remembered today as a brilliant writer, a WWI veteran and an acclaimed journalist. 

During the twenties, Hemingway became a member of the group of expatriate Americans in Paris, which greatly influenced his first notable work, The Sun Also Rises, published in 1926.

He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954. Hemingway’s lucid prose and sparse dialogue undeniably exerted a powerful influence on American and British fiction in the 20th century. Some of our favorite Hemingway novels include For Whom the Bell Tolls, The Old Man and the Sea, and his collection of short stories published in 1932 Death in the Afternoon. However, we would have to say our ultimate favorite long format piece by Hemingway, is without question A Moveable Feast. If you’ve not read it, we are hesitant to say much about it and encourage every aspiring and working writer alike to READ THIS BOOK!

It may surprise some of you to know that our favorite Hemingway short story is only 6 words long and is said to be akknowledged by many to be his greatest work of all:

For sale: baby shoes, never worn.

Brilliant!

Today we encourage our readers to stay up all night brooding and reminiscing on adventures gone by, writing and (responsibly) drinking. Challenge yourselves, write a short story in just six words!

Write on in peace, Mr. Ernest Hemingway.