PEN Hemingway Keynote Address Delivered at the John F. Kennedy Library 1 April 2012: Ernest Hemingway: Why His Work Matters Now More than Ever, A Love Letter from the Digital World

Each year the Ernest Hemingway Foundation and PEN New England award the PEN Hemingway prize for the year's best first work of fiction. The award is presented at a gala reception at the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston, Massachusetts. This year we are pleased to present the keynote address of Andre Dubus III, who spoke at the ceremony honoring 2012 PEN Hemingway award winner Teju Cole and his novel Open City (Random House, 2011). Dubus is best known as author of the novel House of Sand and Fog, a #1 New York Times bestseller, finalist for the National Book Award, and source for the Academy Award-nominated film. His recent memoir, Townie, was named on many Top Nonfiction lists for 2011, including those of The New York Times, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Kirkus Reviews, and Esquire magazine.