Philip Burton, Shakespearean scholar, actor, writer, director and Richard Burton's mentor, lived in the house at 608 Angela Street. The house was built in the 19th century by a master shipbuilder who had the wood shipped in from the Mississippi Valley. Burton lovingly restored the house, stripping off seven layers of paint from the exterior.
NEWS
Ursula Hegi and Anchee Min Join 2009
December 21, 2007
Two more wonderful writers will be joining us for Historical Fiction: Ursula Hegi and Anchee Min. Anchee was last with us in 2000 and gave an amazing performance. Ursula's Stones from the River, which traces the lives of people inhabiting a small town in Germany during the two world wars, is particulary appropriate for our consideration of "the search for truth."
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Gore Vidal confirmed for 2009: Historical Fiction
December 4, 2007
" Gore Vidal's imagination of American politics...is so powerful as to compel awe."--Harold Bloom
It is a great honor to announce that Gore Vidal will be joining us for
Historical Fiction. (more...)
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'Sacred Hunger'November 28 , 2007
We are delighted to announce that novelist, Barry Unsworth (1992 Booker Prize for Fiction for 'Sacred Hunger'), will travel from his home in Italy to join us for both sessions of Historical Fiction. (more...)__________________________________
November 7, 2007
We are pleased to announce the recipients of the three named scholarships for the 2008 session, New Voices! (link)__________________________________
October 8, 2007
We're pleased to announce that Elisabeth Scharlatt, publisher of Algonquin Press, will introduce special new voice Manuel Muñoz at the 2nd session of New Voices.__________________________________
October 8, 2007
We're pleased to announce that Mark Doty (session 1) and Lee Smith (session 2) will deliver this year's John Hersey Memorial Address.
We're pleased to announce that Elisabeth Scharlatt, publisher of Algonquin Press, will introduce special new voice Manuel Muñoz at the 2nd session of New Voices.
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August 31, 2007
We're delighted to announce that Junot Diaz, winner of the 2007 Rome Prize, has been added to 2nd session panelist roster.
For a review of Junot's second book: link
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August 20, 2007
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July 18, 2007
Robert Stone Advanced Writing Workshop Announced.
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We are pleased to announce that Key West Literary Seminar board member and New Voices program chair and panelist, Robert D. Richardson has been awarded the 2007 Bancroft Prize by Columbia University.
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We are pleased to announce the creation of the Scotti Merrill Memorial Scholarship and the Joyce Horton Johnson Fiction Award.
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Mar 7, 2007
A Word from Lee Smith
"One of the best books I have ever read about contemporary life in the mountains of Southern Appalachia, a region I know well. Silas House is from there, he lives there now, and he gets it right. It is sensitively, beautifully portrayed ... a thoughtful and disturbing novel, as well as being a good read. I could see and feel Free Creek, and the mountain above it ... a young writer of immense gifts."
Lee Smith, who is of course the author of Fair and Tender Ladies and an old friend and workshop leader, will be bringing Silas House and Tayari Jones for her on-stage conversations.
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Feb 19, 2007
Doubling Down
With a year to go till the 2008 Seminar, we found ourselves oversubscribed again. So we have decided to add a second session: January 17 to 20, a week after the first. We've done this before, and it worked well. Neither session is "primary," or "better"; they will have more or less identical schedules, dinners, parties, and special events.
We expect some speakers to attend both and others to appear at one or the other. (Schedule details will appear here as they are settled.) At the moment, Session 1 is sold out, but that's because all our early registrants were in Session 1 by default. If you are signed up for Session 1 and find the later week more convenient, please feel free to switch.
Meanwhile, we're accepting new registrations for Session 2 and establishing a waitlist for Session 1.
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"On Chesil Beach"
The new book Ian McEwan read from (in two sections, one on Sunday morning and on Sunday afternoon) is excerpted in the New Yorker here. It’s fascinating to note how profound an effect editing has on the piece; when McEwan read beyond where the New Yorker excerpt left off and got into the racy bits the story took on quite a different cast, less tragic and more entranced with the absurdity of carnal desire.
- Jason Rowan
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Jan 29, 2007
Those charming Finns
The delightful team of Finnish translators/journalists and their photographer Petri were everywhere during the Seminar, adding a slightly magical quality to the proceedings. They’ve reported on the Seminar back home, but unless you can read Finnish it might as well be in Sanskrit. Here are the article and a great slideshow.