A rare Hemingway exhibition is coming to the Toronto Reference Library

For some, Ernest Hemingway is little more than a distant English-lit memory. For others, the Nobel Prize–winning author, journalist and maverick of modernism is a cultural luminary worth dedicating an entire career to.

From July 20 to 25, an international delegation of over 200 Hemingway scholars and writers from 17 countries will descend on the city for a celebration of all things Hemingway at the 21st International Hemingway Conference, hosted by Toronto Metropolitan University.

It’s the first time the conference is being held in Canada and a unique opportunity for enthusiasts—scholarly and layperson—to revisit the author’s formative connections to the city. (A brief primer: Hemingway moved to Toronto in 1920, taking a job as a cub reporter at the Toronto Star Weekly. He hated it, and in a letter to Gertrude Stein, he wondered “why with my fine intelligence I ever came out here.” He left after a few months but returned briefly in 1923 with his first wife, Hadley Richardson. Their son, Jack “Bumby” Hemingway, was born the same year.)

Public events will include a fundraising dinner to celebrate Hemingway’s birthday, July 21, at the Chelsea Hotel; a centennial celebration of The Sun Also Rises at Jazz Bistro; a fireside chat with Barry Callaghan, son of Morley Callaghan, one of Hemingway’s closest friends and fellow writers; and even a Blue Jays versus White Sox game (Hemingway was a lifelong White Sox fan).

But, for local lit nerds and history buffs, the real draw is a public exhibition of Hemingway-related artifacts—including a 1924 copy of the Toronto Daily Star containing Hemingway’s final article for the paper—exhumed from the special collections of the Toronto Public Library. The objects provide a portal into understanding just how foundational Toronto was to Hemingway’s legacy.

“What makes these materials particularly meaningful is the extent to which Hemingway immersed himself in Toronto’s culture, its art scene, boxing matches, barbershops and street life, offering a vivid portrait of the city during this era and preserving an important part of Toronto’s cultural heritage,” says conference chair Irene Gammel.

“This is a significant moment for Toronto’s literary history and for the people of this city,” says Gammel. “It was here, as a young reporter for the Toronto Star, that Ernest Hemingway developed the concise yet dramatic and scene-driven style that would transform twentieth-century literature. This conference celebrates Toronto’s formative place in that remarkable story, one in which all Torontonians can take pride.”

Visitors may find themselves among leading Hemingway scholars from around the world as conference delegates pop in and out to catch a glimpse for themselves.

The exhibition will be on display throughout the conference at the Baillie Special Collections Centre reading room on the fifth floor of the Toronto Reference Library, open Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m.