STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK

One of the many thrills of Ernest Hemingway’s life involved his safaris in Africa, which permitted him the chance to hunt lion and other game and provided him fodder for the novel “Green Hills of Africa” and the short stories “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” and “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber.”

But his second trip to the Dark Continent left its impact in a darker way as he was involved in two plane crashes, prompting news outlets to prematurely run his obituary and leaving him with a severe head injury.

The Community Library’s 2021 Ernest Hemingway Seminar will examine Hemingway and Africa.

It kicks off on Thursday, Sept. 9, with an outdoors reception from 5 to 6 p.m. follow by a presentation looking at Hemingway’s lifelong fascination with the Dark Continent. The talk will be delivered by Suzanne del Gizzo, professor of English at Chestnut Hill College and editor of The Hemingway Review.

In between, Hemingway scholars will look at Hemingway’s “Safari Women,” “Mary Hemingway: The Ghost Wife” and “Hemingway’s Brain.” There also will be a chance to view a short play “The Trial of Margaret Macomber” with jury deliberations and view the film “The Macomber Affair.”

The seminar will end with a reception from 4:15 to 6 p.m. Saturday.

Those who wish to attend in-person will be required to show proof of a COVID-19 vaccine and wear masks while inside the library. Masks will not be required for the outdoor receptions.

There also will be a virtual option offering the opportunity to view and engage in lectures, presentations and films, as well as breakout discussion groups hosted over Zoom.

The in-person component costs $75 and will be limited to a hundred attendees. The virtual seminar costs $25.

To learn more, visit https://www.comlib.org