# Ernest Hemingway

> A reporter from Oak Park, Illinois, who wrote novels of war, Paris and Spain and won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954.

- Novelist and short-story writer · The Old Man and the Sea · A Farewell to Arms
- Known for: *The Sun Also Rises*, *A Farewell to Arms*, *For Whom the Bell Tolls* and *The Old Man and the Sea*, and the 1954 Nobel Prize in Literature.[1][3]
- Born: July 21, 1899
- Died: July 2, 1961
- Last updated: 2026-11-14
- Editorial review: approved 2026-11-14
- Web page: https://authorbackstories.com/classic/ernest-hemingway/
- Reading list (PDF): https://authorbackstories.com/classic/ernest-hemingway/reading-list.pdf

## Featured book: Best known

*The Old Man and the Sea* (1952). A novella about an old Cuban fisherman and a giant marlin, published in 1952; it won the Pulitzer Prize and was the one work the Swedish Academy named when it gave him the Nobel.[4][3]

## At a glance

- Born: July 21, 1899, in Oak Park, Illinois; his father was a doctor[12][11]
- Early work: Reporter for the *Kansas City Star*, then the *Toronto Star*[12]
- First World War: American Red Cross ambulance driver in Italy, seriously wounded in 1918[12][11]
- Married: Four times; his first wife was Hadley Richardson, married 1921[12][6]
- Homes: Paris, Key West, Cuba and Ketchum, Idaho[12][8]
- Died: July 2, 1961, at his home in Ketchum, Idaho[14][11]
- Major award: Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, 1953, for *The Old Man and the Sea*[4]
- Major award: Nobel Prize in Literature, 1954[3]

## Ernest Hemingway's Backstory

### Early life

Ernest Miller Hemingway was born on July 21, 1899, in Oak Park, Illinois, the son of a doctor, Clarence Hemingway, and Grace Hall Hemingway.[12][11] After high school he worked as a reporter for the *Kansas City Star*.[12][14]

### War and Paris

Turned down for military service because of his eyesight, he became an American Red Cross ambulance driver in Italy and was seriously wounded in 1918; his wartime experiences became the basis of *A Farewell to Arms*.[11][12][6] He reported for the *Toronto Star*, married Hadley Richardson in 1921 and moved with her to Paris.[12]

### The novels

His first book, *Three Stories and Ten Poems*, appeared in 1923, followed by *In Our Time* (1925), *The Sun Also Rises* (1926) and *A Farewell to Arms* (1929).[1] In the 1930s and 1940s he lived in Key West and in Cuba, wrote books about bullfighting and an African safari, and covered the Spanish Civil War, which he portrayed in *For Whom the Bell Tolls* (1940).[8][15][1][7] He married four times.[6]

### The Nobel

*The Old Man and the Sea* (1952) won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1953.[4] In 1954 the Swedish Academy awarded him the Nobel Prize in Literature "for his mastery of the art of narrative."[3] He was in poor health and did not travel to Stockholm to accept it.[24]

### Later years and death

In 1959 he moved from Cuba to Ketchum, Idaho, and he died by suicide at his home there on July 2, 1961.[8][14] Several books appeared after his death, among them *A Moveable Feast* (1964), *Islands in the Stream* (1970) and *The Garden of Eden* (1986).[1] His son Patrick, who helped manage his estate and edited *True at First Light*, died in 2025.[23]

## Fun facts

- He relied on the *Kansas City Star*'s style guide, which told reporters to use short sentences and short first paragraphs.[9]
- He did not travel to Stockholm for his Nobel Prize; the U.S. ambassador to Sweden read his acceptance speech.[20][24]
- The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library holds his known surviving manuscripts, his fishing logs and more than 10,000 photographs.[14]
- His wife Mary Hemingway has a cameo as a tourist in the 1958 film of *The Old Man and the Sea*.[13]

## Books

In order of first publication; each series is kept together in reading order.

Novels, story collections, nonfiction and poetry from the Nobel Prize's Hemingway bibliography, dated by first publication; pamphlets, the film script *The Spanish Earth*, letters, journalism collections and later selections of the stories are left out, and *Men at War*, which he edited, comes from the JFK Library's list.[1][2]

- 1923: *Three Stories and Ten Poems* (Story collection). His first book.[1] [WorldCat](https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=Three%20Stories%20and%20Ten%20Poems%20Ernest%20Hemingway)
- 1924: *in our time* (Story collection). A slim Paris edition of short sketches, in lowercase.[1][2] [WorldCat](https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=in%20our%20time%20Ernest%20Hemingway)
- 1925: *In Our Time* (Story collection). The expanded New York edition, with the stories.[1][2] ISBN 9780020518105. [Bookshop](https://bookshop.org/a/131187/9780020518105) · [WorldCat](https://www.worldcat.org/isbn/9780020518105)
- 1926: *The Sun Also Rises* (Novel). ISBN 9781501160622. [Bookshop](https://bookshop.org/a/131187/9781501160622) · [WorldCat](https://www.worldcat.org/isbn/9781501160622)
- 1926: *The Torrents of Spring* (Novel). ISBN 9780684839073. [Bookshop](https://bookshop.org/a/131187/9780684839073) · [WorldCat](https://www.worldcat.org/isbn/9780684839073)
- 1927: *Men Without Women* (Story collection). ISBN 9780684718033. [Bookshop](https://bookshop.org/a/131187/9780684718033) · [WorldCat](https://www.worldcat.org/isbn/9780684718033)
- 1929: *A Farewell to Arms* (Novel). Drew on his wounding and recovery in Italy in 1918.[12] ISBN 9781476764528. [Bookshop](https://bookshop.org/a/131187/9781476764528) · [WorldCat](https://www.worldcat.org/isbn/9781476764528)
- 1932: *Death in the Afternoon* (Nonfiction). On bullfighting.[15] [WorldCat](https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=Death%20in%20the%20Afternoon%20Ernest%20Hemingway)
- 1933: *Winner Take Nothing* (Story collection). ISBN 9780684174266. [Bookshop](https://bookshop.org/a/131187/9780684174266) · [WorldCat](https://www.worldcat.org/isbn/9780684174266)
- 1935: *Green Hills of Africa* (Nonfiction). ISBN 9781476787589. [Bookshop](https://bookshop.org/a/131187/9781476787589) · [WorldCat](https://www.worldcat.org/isbn/9781476787589)
- 1937: *To Have and Have Not* (Novel). [WorldCat](https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=To%20Have%20and%20Have%20Not%20Ernest%20Hemingway)
- 1938: *The Fifth Column and the First Forty-Nine Stories* (Story collection). His play *The Fifth Column* with his collected stories to that date.[1][5] [WorldCat](https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=The%20Fifth%20Column%20and%20the%20First%20Forty-Nine%20Stories%20Ernest%20Hemingway)
- 1940: *For Whom the Bell Tolls* (Novel). A novel of the Spanish Civil War.[16] ISBN 9781476787770. [Bookshop](https://bookshop.org/a/131187/9781476787770) · [WorldCat](https://www.worldcat.org/isbn/9781476787770)
- 1942: *Men at War* (Anthology (editor)). An anthology of war stories that he edited and introduced.[2] [WorldCat](https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=Men%20at%20War%20Ernest%20Hemingway)
- 1950: *Across the River and into the Trees* (Novel). ISBN 9780684102320. [Bookshop](https://bookshop.org/a/131187/9780684102320) · [WorldCat](https://www.worldcat.org/isbn/9780684102320)
- 1952: *The Old Man and the Sea* (Novella). Won the 1953 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and was the work named in his Nobel citation.[4][3] ISBN 9780684801223. [Bookshop](https://bookshop.org/a/131187/9780684801223) · [WorldCat](https://www.worldcat.org/isbn/9780684801223)
- 1964: *A Moveable Feast* (Memoir). His memoir of Paris in the 1920s, published after his death.[1][12] ISBN 9781416591313. [Bookshop](https://bookshop.org/a/131187/9781416591313) · [WorldCat](https://www.worldcat.org/isbn/9781416591313)
- 1970: *Islands in the Stream* (Novel). Published after his death.[1] ISBN 9780743253420. [Bookshop](https://bookshop.org/a/131187/9780743253420) · [WorldCat](https://www.worldcat.org/isbn/9780743253420)
- 1972: *The Nick Adams Stories* (Story collection). Published after his death.[1] [WorldCat](https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=The%20Nick%20Adams%20Stories%20Ernest%20Hemingway)
- 1979: *88 Poems* (Poetry). Published after his death.[1] [WorldCat](https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=88%20Poems%20Ernest%20Hemingway)
- 1985: *The Dangerous Summer* (Nonfiction). Published after his death.[1] ISBN 9780684183558. [Bookshop](https://bookshop.org/a/131187/9780684183558) · [WorldCat](https://www.worldcat.org/isbn/9780684183558)
- 1986: *The Garden of Eden* (Novel). Published after his death.[1] [WorldCat](https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=The%20Garden%20of%20Eden%20Ernest%20Hemingway)
- 1999: *True at First Light* (Other). A "fictional memoir" of an African safari, edited by his son from the manuscript; the unabridged text appeared in 2005 as *Under Kilimanjaro*.[1][23] ISBN 9780684865720. [Bookshop](https://bookshop.org/a/131187/9780684865720) · [WorldCat](https://www.worldcat.org/isbn/9780684865720)

## Latest news

- July 20–25, 2026: The Hemingway Society's 21st International Conference was set for Toronto, where he got his first bylines at the *Toronto Star*.[26][27]
- Jan. 23, 2026: The Nobel Prize Museum in Stockholm received a copy of *The Old Man and the Sea* that he inscribed in June 1961 during a hospital stay in Rochester, Minnesota; the museum says the inscription is probably the last of his writing to survive.[24][25]
- Jan. 8–11, 2026: *The Sun Also Rises* turned 100; the Hemingway Society marked it with a panel at the Modern Language Association convention in Toronto.[28]

## Adaptations and other media

### Film

- *A Farewell to Arms* (1932). Based on *A Farewell to Arms*. A film with Gary Cooper and Helen Hayes.[13]
- *For Whom the Bell Tolls* (1943). Based on *For Whom the Bell Tolls*. A film directed by Sam Wood, with Gary Cooper and Ingrid Bergman.[13][17]
- *The Old Man and the Sea* (1958). Based on *The Old Man and the Sea*. A Warner Bros. film directed by John Sturges, with Spencer Tracy as Santiago.[18][13][19]

## Myth and record

- Claim: To win a bet, Hemingway wrote the six-word story "For sale, baby shoes, never worn" on a napkin, an anecdote still widely repeated.[22][21]
  The record: Quote Investigator found no substantive evidence that he wrote it. The anecdote was first published in 1991 by a literary agent who said he had heard it around 1974, and similar newspaper items date back to 1906 and 1910.[21][10]

## Timeline

- July 21, 1899: Born in Oak Park, Illinois.[12]
- 1917: Begins reporting for the *Kansas City Star*.[12]
- 1918: Seriously wounded while serving as a Red Cross ambulance driver in Italy.[12]
- 1921: Marries Hadley Richardson and moves to Paris.[12]
- 1926: *The Sun Also Rises* is published.[1]
- 1929: *A Farewell to Arms* is published.[1]
- 1940: *For Whom the Bell Tolls* is published.[1]
- 1952: *The Old Man and the Sea* is published.[4]
- 1953: Wins the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.[4]
- Oct. 28, 1954: Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.[3]
- July 2, 1961: Dies at his home in Ketchum, Idaho.[14]
- 1964: *A Moveable Feast* is published.[1]
- Jan. 23, 2026: The Nobel Prize Museum receives a book he inscribed weeks before his death.[24]

## What came after

The Hemingway Letters Project continues to publish his correspondence; six volumes, covering 1907 to June 1936, have appeared so far.[29]

## Sources

1. [Ernest Hemingway – Bibliography](https://nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1954/hemingway/bibliography). NobelPrize.org. (primary record)
2. [Hemingway's Works (By Genre)](https://JFKLibrary.org/hemingway/works-by-genre). John F. Kennedy Presidential Library. (primary record)
3. [1954 Nobel Prize in Literature](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1954_Nobel_Prize_in_Literature). Wikipedia. (reference)
4. [The Old Man and the Sea](https://ipfs.ssi.eecc.de/ipns/en.wikipedia-on-ipfs.org/wiki/The_Old_Man_and_the_Sea). Wikipedia (IPFS mirror). (reference)
5. [Ernest Hemingway bibliography](https://www.wikipedia.com/wiki/Ernest_Hemingway_bibliography). Wikipedia. (reference)
6. [Ernest Hemingway](https://wikipedia.com/wiki/Hemingway). Wikipedia. (reference)
7. [The Old Man and the Sea](https://origin-www.powells.com/book/-9780684801223). Powell's Books (publisher's author note). (website)
8. [Ernest Hemingway](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20130119161319/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Hemingway). Wikipedia (2013 archive). (reference)
9. [Ernest Hemingway](https://webcf.waybackmachine.org/web/20220601122441/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Hemingway). Wikipedia (2022 archive). (reference)
10. [For sale: baby shoes, never worn](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_sale:_baby_shoes,_never_worn). Wikipedia. (reference)
11. [Ernest Hemingway](https://kids.britannica.com/students/article/Ernest-Hemingway/274836). Britannica Kids. (reference)
12. [Ernest Hemingway career timeline](https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/ernest-hemingway-career-timeline/630). PBS American Masters. (reference)
13. [Films Based on Hemingway Works](https://www.pbs.org/hemingwayadventure/works.html). PBS (Michael Palin's Hemingway Adventure). (website)
14. [Ernest Hemingway](https://prologue.blogs.archives.gov/?p=33846). National Archives, The Text Message / Prologue blog. (primary record)
15. [Ernest Hemingway](https://www.loa.org/news-and-views/writers/750-ernest-hemingway/). Library of America. (website)
16. [The 5 best Ernest Hemingway movie adaptations](https://www.avclub.com/the-5-best-ernest-hemingway-movie-adaptations-1846577172). The A.V. Club. (news)
17. [For Whom the Bell Tolls](https://www.rogerebert.com/?p=13841). RogerEbert.com. (news)
18. [Ernest Hemingway Profile](https://www.tcm.com/articles/297133/ernest-hermingway-profile-ernest-hemingway-profile). Turner Classic Movies. (website)
19. [Dal libro al film: schermo schermo dei miei Nobel – Parte I](https://www.rollingstone.it/cinema-tv/film/dal-libro-al-film-schermo-schermo-dei-miei-nobel-parte-i/652472/). Rolling Stone Italia. (news)
20. [The Writer's Endurance: The Old Man and the Sea](https://greatbooksguy.com/2020/11/22/the-writers-endurance-the-old-man-and-the-sea/). Great Books Guy. (website)
21. [Quote Origin: For Sale, Baby Shoes, Never Worn](https://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/01/28/baby-shoes/). Quote Investigator. (reference)
22. [Baby shoes](https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2022/oct/04/baby-shoes/). Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. (news)
23. [Patrick Hemingway, Ernest Hemingway's last surviving child, dies at 97](https://www.news4jax.com/entertainment/2025/09/04/patrick-hemingway-ernest-hemingways-last-surviving-child-dies-at-97/). Associated Press (via News4JAX). (news)
24. [Book with inscription](https://nobelprize.museum.link/s/collection/item/40753). Nobel Prize Museum. (primary record)
25. [Conversation and object donation: Hemingway](https://www.nobelprizemuseum.se/en/event/conversation-and-object-donation-hemingway/). Nobel Prize Museum. (primary record)
26. [Hemingway Society conference in Toronto, 2026](https://www.hemingwaysociety.org/node/20135). The Hemingway Society. (primary record)
27. [IHSC2026: Hemingway in Toronto](https://easychair.org/cfp/IHSC-2026). EasyChair. (website)
28. [CFP: The Sun Also Rises at 100 - 2026 MLA in Toronto](https://www.hemingwaysociety.org/node/20110). The Hemingway Society. (primary record)
29. [The Hemingway Letters Project: Emerging Research (Toronto 2026)](https://www.hemingwaysociety.org/node/20141). The Hemingway Society. (primary record)