By Erin Pryor Ackerman
From ThinkWY – Wyoming Humanities
For years, Wyoming Humanities partnered with libraries and communities throughout the state for “Reading Wyoming,” which provided reading groups with thematically-linked books and a trained discussion leader to help lead discussions. Today, Wyoming Humanities still supports some of those same Reading Wyoming groups through our Spark Grants.
It is in this same spirit of celebration of conversation and community that Wyoming Humanities has partnered with the Wyoming State Library to renew the One Book Wyoming program with Ernest Hemingway’s In Our Time. One Book Wyoming is a state-wide community reading program in which the same book is read and discussed throughout the state. In Our Time is Ernest Hemingway’s first collection of short stories and the first introduction of his famous character Nick Adams. The stories’ themes range from meditations on fatherhood and family to war’s impact on soldiers to the challenges of romantic relationships to the relationship between humans and nature. With that many diverse themes, not only will there be a story of interest to virtually everyone but opportunities to discuss and think more thoroughly about subjects you may not have thought much about in the past.
In Our Time should also inspire you to check out other Hemingway in Wyoming activities, funded by a multi-year National Endowment for the Humanities grant “Creating Humanities Communities along the Hemingway Highway.” These include the “Hemingway Highways Tours,” created using the TravelStoryGPS app, and featuring sites where Hemingway lived and worked throughout the state; traveling exhibits on Hemingway’s WWI service and artistic interpretations of Hemingway’s work; and, in 2020, the Hemingway Society Conference in Sheridan.
“There are two places I love,” Hemingway wrote: “Africa and Wyoming.” It’s our goal for people throughout Wyoming to learn a bit more about Hemingway, his life, and his works, while engaging in lively, thoughtful conversations with their communities.
Books, posters, and bookmarks, as well as additional information will be sent to Wyoming public and college libraries in May.