Author Darla Worden's book "Cockeyed Happy: Ernest Hemingway's Wyoming Summers with Pauline," offering research on Hemingway's important connection to the American West and the role of his second wife, Pauline Pfeiffer, has attracted media acclaim and speaking engagements, including recent opportunities with the Hemingway Society. Worden recently was interviewed by noted Hemingway scholar Mark Cirino on the society's "One True Podcast" and was a popular speaker at two events at the 2022 Biannual International Hemingway Society Conference, held in Sheridan, Wyoming, this year.
DENVER, Aug. 22, 2022 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Nearly a century ago, in 1928, Ernest Hemingway arrived in Sheridan, Wyoming, in search of a quiet place to finish writing "A Farewell to Arms." That visit serves as the opener to Darla Worden's biography "Cockeyed Happy: Ernest Hemingway's Wyoming Summers with Pauline" (Chicago Review Press) and as a topic for the Hemingway Society's recent "One True Podcast" interview of Darla by noted Hemingway scholar Mark Cirino.
The podcast was part of a ramp-up by the Hemingway Society for its 19th Biennial Conference, which opened in July at Sheridan College in author Worden's hometown of Sheridan, Wyoming. In introducing Worden for the podcast, Cirino credits Worden with considering the perspective of Hemingway's second wife, Pauline Pfeiffer, in "Cockeyed Happy," "offering an insightful look at Pauline, the children and an underdiscussed location so crucial to Hemingway's life and writing." Cirino and Worden then go on to discuss Worden's journey to write the book, which she says "was not a straight line. I started out writing one book and ended up writing another … As I dug deeper in my research a voice kept chiming in, and that voice was Pauline's."
Ernest and Pauline Hemingway's marriage across the six summers they spent in Wyoming forms the story arc for the book, which alternates between their points of view in an engaging narrative nonfiction format that reads like a novel, drawing on the couple's letters and other research to capture their thoughts and experiences. Worden's recognition of the importance of this relatively unexplored destination in Hemingway's life and of Pauline's little-known role in his life and work – she remained one of his most trusted editors even after their divorce – has brought "Cockeyed Happy" acclaim from a variety of media, including Publisher's Weekly and Esquire.
In addition to the podcast, an interview with Worden has been featured in the Hemingway Society newsletter, and she gave two presentations on the opening day of the society's conference. Worden gave a reading from "Cockeyed Happy" and a Q&A session for members of the Hemingway Society, which also runs the Ernest Hemingway Foundation, a leader in advancing Hemingway studies. Immediately following that event, she reconvened with that audience and a crowd of Wyoming locals for an open-to-the-public happy hour hosted by Sheridan College's Kooi Library, where she offered a "Frenemies" talk about the surprising relationship that developed between Ernest Hemingway's first and second wives, Hadley and Pauline.
"I enjoyed meeting with the scholars and enthusiasts at the Hemingway Society Conference and sharing the little-known details of a special time and place in Hemingway's life, including from my perspective as a Wyoming native," says Worden.
About Darla Worden:
Wyoming native Darla Worden lives in Denver, Colorado, where she is editor in chief of Mountain Living magazine. Worden also is founder and director of the Left Bank Writers Retreat in Paris and a journalist known for articles about art, architecture, travel and the West. Her quest to uncover the story of Hemingway's time in Wyoming was first sparked when she learned the author had spent a summer in her hometown of Sheridan and nearby Big Horn, Wyoming. For additional information about Cockeyed Happy and related book events, visit darlaworden.com or follow @authordarlaworden on Facebook and @darlaworden on Instagram.
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SOURCE Darla Worden
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