Hemingway in Key West

In the mid-19th century in Key West, the cigar industry transformed the island into the thirteenth largest port in the country. To get an education and to relax while they worked, the cigarmakers hired lectores, or readers, to keep them up on the news and the classics. These lectores read in both English and Spanish. In the morning, one might read Cuban newspapers; in the afternoon, after rolling cigars for hours, the workers might hear Shakespeare or Alexander Dumas, or Blasco Ibanez or Eduardo Zamacois.
More than 100 years later, Key West still honors reading and writing. In fact, it's not h...