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Literati Gather in Key West this January
for Annual Literary Seminar

Comedy writers (and fans) meet for 10 days of talks,
workshops and parties

By Lucy Komisar

Hemingway’s ghost hovers over an annual confab of literati from all over the U.S. who meet every January in Key West, Florida, for a seminar that has become so successful that this year it’s had to expand to two sessions.

The Key West Annual Literary Seminar has been going for 22 years, drawing writers and writer-wanna-be’s and fans to hear novelists, essayists and playwrights talk about literary themes and also about how they work. Each year, there’s another topic; past seminars have focused on the memoir, the novel, the natural world, science, and journalism. There are how-to workshops as well.

I was in Key West in January 2004 when the theme was “Crossing Borders,” about the immigrant voice in American literature. Among the writers speaking was Amy Tan.

This year, the 23rd gathering will feature comic novelists, essayists, playwrights and cartoonists. The speakers January 6-9, 2005 will include essayists Dave Barry, Roy Blount, Jr., Calvin Trillin, novelist Alison Lurie, and playwrights Christopher Durang, Terrence McNally, Wendy Wasserstein and others. That session is already sold out, with a wait list.

From January 13-16, you can hear and meet essayists Molly Ivins and Trillin, cartoonists Garry Trudeau and Jules Feiffer, and playwright-screenwriters Nora Ephron and Bruce Jay Friedman, and more.

I don’t know what the sessions will be like, but I can give you a clue about what goes on in between meetings: a round of garden parties and gallery and museum receptions where you can meet and interact with the writers and guests. This makes it a good event for people attending alone, since they’ll fit readily into a social scene of several hundred colleagues.

Last January, the social side started out with wine and cheese at the Lucky Street Gallery along with an exhibit on the seminar theme by Key West artists. Then I attended a gala reception in the garden of the Wrecker’s Museum, the oldest house in town, built in 1839 in seafaring style. The next day, Miles Frieden, who runs the seminar, greeted participants at a garden party at the Audubon House.

A day later there was another gallery reception. And then champagne and chamber music in honor of Amy Tan at the Key West Museum of Art and History. I bumped into children’s book writer Judy Blume and her husband George Cooper. They live in Key West in winter, along with a large community of writers and artists and she is a member of the literary seminar board. Museum director Claudia Pennington chatted with Stanley and Judith Zabar of the gourmet food emporium. Think of this as Hamptons-South. (The beaches are sandy, and you can get to them by bus or rented bike.)

It was my first time in Key West, and I wanted to check out some of the historic attractions, starting with the home of the island’s muse, Hemingway. (By the way, Robert Frost and John Hersey lived in Key West, too.)

Hemingway lived on the island from 1931 to 40, and his house is now a museum. It is a gallery of Hemingway’s amorous adventures as well as a home for dozens of cats, all allegedly descended from his also evidently amorous “Snowball.” You can see the room and writing desk where Hemingway worked and photos from his days in Cuba, with the big fish he caught as well as his big-fish friends. The tour guide pointed out a photo of Joseph Kennedy, the father of John, who he described as “the biggest bootlegger.” “Joe Kennedy was in Cuba,” he noted. “It was the days of prohibition: you can take it from there. Every bottle of Scotch from England to America had a Kennedy tariff on it.” Kennedy would be named ambassador to Great Britain. Then as now, big money washes itself, and we had the best ambassadors money can buy.

Then to another brand of politics: I visited the Little White House or Truman Annex where President Truman stayed as often as he could. Here he wrote what was then major civil rights legislation, penning an executive order banning race discrimination in hiring by federal contractors. At night, he’d play poker with his friends. The house sat on a U.S. Naval base, but now is preserved in a private housing development of expensive condos and coops. In April 2001, Secretary of State Colin Powell chose the Little White House as a site for peace talks between the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia, also hosting 100 delegates representing the U.S., the European Union and Russia.

It you forget that Key West is Caribbean, you will be reminded by the Bahama Village, where blacks who trace their origin to the Bahamas have lived for 100 years. As you travel there and through the historic district, you’ll see clapboard houses painted white and canary, which is the original Key West Conch housing style. View them and the other sights via the Conch Tour which takes you around town in an open-air train with a very good running commentary.

Where to eat? Two favorite places were Blue Heaven and Kelly’s. Blue Heaven at 729 Thomas Street in Bahama Village is an island favorite, with Caribbean cuisine served indoor or in the dirt-floor garden. Ignore the roosters walking around; they won’t be served. http://blueheavenkw.com. My choice, Jamaican jerk chicken. Dinner entrees $23 to $36.

Kelly’s Caribbean Bar and Grill is in the building that housed the first office of PanAm airways which ran the world’s first international flight -- Pan Am #1 to Havana. You can eat Caribbean specialties such as apple chicken and blackened fish indoors or on the outdoor patio. I had a delicious yellow tail snapper. Dinner entrees $13 to $24.

For the literary seminar:
Session 1 - January 6-9, 2005 - $450.00
Session 2 - January 13-16, 2005 - $450.00
($395.00 if paid in full by September 1, 2004)
Writers' Workshop - January 9-13, 2005 - $450.00
Seminar and Workshop - $850.00
($775.00 if paid in full by September 1, 2004)
Some scholarships are available.

For information: http://www.keywestliteraryseminar.org or (888) 293-9291.

May to November: Summer Office, 4 Portside Lane, Searsport, ME 04974

December to April: Winter Office, 717 Love Lane, Key West, FL 33040

Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum, 205 Whitehead Street. (305) 294-1136. http://www.hemingwayhome.com.

Harry S. Truman Little White House Museum, 111 Front Street. (305) 294-9911. http://www.trumanlittlewhitehouse.com.

Blue Heaven, 425 Grinnell St. (305) 294-1117. http://blueheavenkw.com.

Kelly’s Caribbean Bar and Grill at 301Whitehead Street. (305) 293-8484.

“Miami and the Keys,” Eyewitness Top 10 Travel Guides, $10. A quick guide to the best beaches, bars, restaurants, and snorkeling and other sea sport centers. Web page at http://www.dk.com.

Useful web sites: http://www.fla-keys.com and http://www.keywestattractions.org.

Images by Lucy Komisar. Photo of Joe Kennedy and Hemingway, John F. Kennedy Library, Boston.

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