Click here to view the results of this year's Papa Lookalike Contest, as well as photos from this year's event!

The literary legacy of Ernest Hemingway, who lived in Key West throughout the 1930s, will be celebrated Tuesday through Sunday, July 15-20, with Hemingway Days’ roster of events for fans of good writing.

The schedule includes readings and presentations, a book signing by author and illustrator Edward Hemingway, a world-premiere play reading, a Hemingway Look-Alike Contest and the announcement of the winners of the Lorian Hemingway Short Story Competition.

The short story competition will be judged by Lorian Hemingway, a granddaughter of Ernest Hemingway. She will announce the winners of the 2008 competition at 8 p.m. Friday, July 18. The first-place writer is to receive $1,000, while second- and third-place winners are awarded $500 each and others receive honorable mentions.

The awards announcement reception is scheduled to take place at Ernest Hemingway’s first Key West residence, Casa Antigua, 314 Simonton St. Completely restored since Hemingway’s era, the property is a showplace with a soaring central atrium garden open to the sky. Owners Tom Oosterhoudt and his mother, Mary Ann Worth, are longtime supporters of the arts who open their home each year to sponsor and host the short story events.

Another scheduled Hemingway Days literary highlight is a book signing and reception celebrating the release of “Bump in the Night,” a children’s book written and illustrated by Edward Hemingway, Ernest’s youngest grandson.

The event is set for 5:30-7 p.m. Tuesday, July 15, in the colorful outdoor courtyard of Key West’s landmark Blue Heaven restaurant and bar, 729 Thomas St. Blue Heaven is located on the former site of a boxing ring where Ernest Hemingway refereed neighborhood matches when he lived in the island city.

The Blue Heaven reception will feature light refreshments. Admission is free to kids, grownups and everyone who wants to find out why there’s no need to fear a “Bump in the Night.”

Writers and photographers whose work has been influenced by Key West are to star at an evening of readings, presentations and discussions Wednesday, July 16. Scheduled for 8 p.m., the literary evening is hosted by Wyland Galleries of Key West and takes place at Wyland’s 623 Duval St. gallery.

Notable participants include Lorian Hemingway, treasure–diving photographer and writer Don Kincaid, who played a pivotal role in the discovery of the shipwrecked Spanish galleon Nuestra Señora de Atocha off Key West; author/photographer and expert angler Jeffrey Cardenas, whose books “Sea Level” and “Marquesa: A Time & Place with Fish,” blend natural history and fishing reminiscences; and writer, artist and writing coach Cricket Desmarais, editor of Key West’s acclaimed literary/art annual “the secret of salt: an indigenous journal.”

The world-premiere reading of “Storm Surge” by Southern playwright Hubert Grissom is planned for Thursday, July 17. The offbeat comedy-drama touches on drag antics, the Hemingway family legacy, struggles with relationships and addiction, a set of mismatched twins and the puzzle of gender identity.

The curtain goes up on the reading of “Storm Surge” at 8 p.m. Thursday at Key West’s Red Barn Theatre, 319 Duval St. Admission is free.

Finally, scores of men donning a cream-colored wool fisherman’s sweater will participate in Sloppy Joe’s “Papa” Hemingway Look-Alike Contest.

Set for Thursday through Saturday, July 17-19, the 2008 contest is expected to attract as many as 150 stocky, bearded contestants to Sloppy Joe’s Bar, 201 Duval St., author Ernest Hemingway’s favorite watering hole when he lived and wrote in Key West throughout the 1930s.

Entrants from as far away as Australia and Kazakhstan dress in safari togs, wool fisherman’s turtlenecks and other garb associated with the Pulitzer and Nobel winner’s “Papa” persona. Some are longtime repeat contenders, swaggering or shy as they attempt to convince a judging panel of past contest winners that they deserve the coveted title of “Papa.”

Aspiring Ernests are to prove that their affinity for the author is “no bull” during Sloppy Joe’s “Running of the Bulls,” a lighthearted salute to the famed annual run in Pamplona, Spain. Though it features manmade pseudo-steers instead of the real thing, the sporting spoof typically draws large and enthusiastic crowds. The event is slated for 1 p.m. Saturday, July 19, outside Sloppy Joe’s.

Before the run, from noon to 1 p.m. Saturday, the look-alikes plan to be available for photos on Greene Street outside Sloppy Joe’s. Afterwards, they are to host an early “birthday party” outside the bar to celebrate the July 21 anniversary of Hemingway’s 1899 birth.

For more Hemingway Days information, visit www.hemingwaydays.net.

For lodging and attraction information in Key West, contact the Key West Chamber of Commerce at 1-800-LAST-KEY (800-527-8539), visit the Florida Keys Tourism Development Council website and explore the Florida Keys and Key West pages on VISITFLORIDA.com.