Author to Speak About Experiences with Ernest Hemingway

Valerie was a young Irish reporter in 1959 when she was sent to interview Ernest Hemingway, who was, at the time a 59-year-old author. He took her under his wing and eventually hired her to be his personal secretary, working with him in Spain, France and Cuba. In this role, she also served as a confidante, sharing his secrets and sorrows.

After his death, she was hired by his estate to sort and organize his papers, letters and manuscripts, and she eventually married his youngest son, Gregory, becoming a member of the family.

Her talk will focus on these experiences as described in her memoir, "Running with the Bulls: My Years with the Hemingways." This book was published in 2004 to much acclaim.

"It is one of the best books on Hemingway that I have read, and it has material to be found nowhere else on Ernest, Mary and Greg Hemingway," said Norman Mailer in a press release about the book.

Valarie is a freelance writer and editor whose articles have appeared in national publications like the Smithsonian Magazine. She is also a contributing writer for Distinctly Montana.

A frequent lecturer on the international circuit, she has appeared in Canada, Europe and Israel. She also conducts memoir writing workshops. Last January, she moderated a panel on Mary Magdalene at a biblical archaeological symposium sponsored by Princeton University in Jerusalem.