A Gift From Ramble Pictures Honouring Hemingway

A few days ago, I received a special gift from Ramble Pictures, a film production company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is a framed picture announcing a documentary titled Papa's Shadow, which deals with Hemingway in East Africa. Much of the documentary is a conversation between Patrick Hemingway and me about Hemingway's African experiences as reflected in his writings, as well as his ideas about writing, culture, and life in general.

The picture features Ernest Hemingway, Patrick Hemingway and me, as well as Mount Kilimanjaro, the vast plain below it, and a plane in the air. This scenery magnificently evokes Hemingway's famous short story, "The Snows of Kilimanjaro."

I am humbled to be featured alongside Ernest Hemingway, one of the greatest writers in the English language, as well as Patrick Hemingway, his son and only remaining child, who knows my country and East Africa very well, having lived there for twenty five years, and who has been my mentor in my efforts to study Ernest Hemingway.

I am equally humbled that Patrick is also a great admirer of my work, such as my book, Africans and Americans: Embracing Cultural Differences. In Papa's Shadow, Patrick refers to it and he is seen reading a passage from it, in Swahili and my English translation.

Papa's Shadow focuses on a dimension of Ernest Hemingway that is not well known: his life long fascination with Africa. In the course of studying Hemingway, I realized this deficiency and decided to create a course, Hemingway in East Africa, which inspired Jimmy Gildea, one of the students, to create Papa's Shadow. I highly recommend this documentary. To order it, contact Ramble Pictures. email: info@ramblepictures.com, telephone: (952) 426-5809.

My Book Donation to "Papa's Shadow"

During the recent Ramble Pictures fundraising campaign for the documentary film, Papa's Shadow, I contributed a little money and copies of my book, Africans and Americans: Embracing Cultural Differences. to be given to donors who gave 200 dollars and above.

Today, Jimmy Gildea, founder of Ramble Pictures and maker of Papa's Shadow, who was one of the students in my Hemingway in East Africa course, visited me at St. Olaf College as we had agreed, to get the books. I signed five copies, and we had some time to talk about Ernest Hemingway, our visit to Montana, the fundraising campaign, and so forth.

Jimmy also took the opportunity to film some footage of me reading Green Hills of Africa and taking a short walk in St. Olaf College's quadrangle. Jimmy wondered if I had any photos from my childhood or younger days. I could tell he was keen to add these elements to Papa's Shadow, although it is a wonderful documentary as it is. I know because I have seen it.

Papa's Shadow will be released soon, Jimmy believes, probably in February. It is not a work of fiction but a documentary on the life, travels, writing, and philosophy of Ernest Hemingway, especially as pertaining to his East African safaris in 1933-34 and 1953-54. Much of it is a conversation on these topics between me and Patrick Hemingway, the only remaining child of Ernest Hemingway. I can hardly wait for the release of this documentary to the world.

International Festival Faribault, August 22

August 22, 2015, the International Festival Faribault will take place in Faribault, Minnesota. This will be the 10th year of the festival, which brings together the various nations represented in Faribault, to share their cultures and foster mutual understanding.

I have already signed up as a participant. I will have a table where I will display my books and talk with people about my work as an educator, writer, and cultural consultant. I consider events of this kind an extension of my classroom, whose spirit of give-and-take is highly rewarding. What I learn on these occasions enriches my teaching in various ways.

The International Festival Faribault is an opportunity to meet people from different parts of the world and to see the cultural items and other things they display, watch their performances, and sample their foods. Year in and year out, I have found the conversations with different people enlightening.

This year, I will also talk about a documentary film on Ernest Hemingway titled Papa's Shadow, produced by Jimmy Gildea, a 2014 alumnus of St. Olaf College, who was one of the students who came to Tanzania in 2013 on my Hemingway in East Africa course. The documentary features me in conversation with Patrick Hemingway, the only remaining child of Ernest Hemingway, born in 1928. We are talking about Hemingway's life, travels, and writings, especially those concerning East Africa.

Hemingway was an avid world traveler, who was genuinely interested in, and respectful of, other cultures. As an African, I like sharing my great admiration for Hemingway's lifelong fascination with Africa, an aspect that is not well acknowledged by readers and scholars alike. Indeed, Hemingway exemplified the kind of spirit the International Festival Faribault stands for.