Down a nondescript back road in Ketchum, just west of the Big Wood River, sits a beautiful two-story home. It is surrounded by breathtaking beauty. It was the final residence of Ernest Hemingway and his wife Mary. He died there in 1961 in a terrifying act of violence.
The home is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and since 2017, the Community Library in Ketchum has been the custodian of the property. Appropriately, The Community Library opens the doors of the private building to a select number of authors, playwrights and other creatives through its Writer-in-Residency program.
“It has been a unique experience,” said Heidi Kraay, writer, playwright and member of the Dramatists Guild of America. “It was very different than what I expected or planned.”
That is an understatement, considering what happened to Kraay just weeks before she was to spend her days and nights under the same roof as Hemingway six decades ago.
“The universe or something else was saying that I needed to spend this time differently,” said Kraay, author of the acclaimed drama "Wolf/Girl."
“At some point I was going to get to the bottom of my well and then I was going into this unknown territory. But then, I arrived here.”
Kraay visited with Morning Edition George Prentice to talk about her craft, meditations, wolves and how she was hit by a truck – the third time she's been hit while bicycling.
Find reporter George Prentice @georgepren
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