“Cockeyed Happy” readers enjoy in-person Zoom discussion with author Darla Worden
Darla Worden, author of the new book about Hemingway, “Cockeyed Happy,” has devised a special promotion to share with book clubs across the U.S.
Denver, Colorado – October 22, 2021 – Some authors offer printed questions to help promote book club discussions of their books, but Darla Worden, author of the new Cockeyed Happy: Ernest Hemingway’s Wyoming Summers with Pauline, is taking a fresh – and personal – approach to supporting her readers, offering an “author in the house” discussion via Zoom with any book club with five or more members that asks her. And she’ll even throw in a little swag. Just published in September from Chicago Review Press, Cockeyed Happy tells the little-known tale of Hemingway’s marriage to second wife Pauline Pfeiffer and their Wyoming adventures across six summers between 1928 and 1939 that include some of his most successful writing years.
There are more than 5 million book club members in the U.S., who “want to read books that expand their horizons—windows that allow them to see into the lives of others or mirrors that let them reflect on aspects of their own lives,” according to LibrarySpot research. And “above all else, books need to have plenty to discuss.” Worden believes Cockeyed Happy is a good fit on both counts.
A free pink “Cockeyed Happy” t-shirt is one of the perks for book clubs who read “Cockeyed Happy,” chronicling Ernest Hemingway’s time in Wyoming with his wife Pauline (Hemingway photo: JFK Library).
“Book club members are overwhelmingly women and tend to read fiction, so a nonfiction book on Ernest Hemingway – who’s often viewed as a ‘man’s man’ – may seem counterintuitive,” says Worden. “But Cockeyed Happy balances his perspective with Pauline’s and the story that emerges, including her conflicts between her career and family and a very demanding husband, is fascinating – and very relatable.” And Worden’s narrative nonfiction style reads like a page-turning novel, impressing media from Publisher’s Weekly, which calls the book “an immersive debut,” to Esquire, which, while delving into many aspects of the book, including how Hemingway’s time in Wyoming helped promote his charismatic “mountain man” image, also picks up on its underlying “slow burning story of a doomed marriage.”
L to R: Ernest and Pauline Hemingway, bear hunting in Wyoming (PC: JFK Library); Denver author Darla Worden was raised in Wyoming, which sparked her fascination with Hemingway’s time in the state.
In addition to offering the live Zoom discussions with book clubs across the U.S., Worden will send a complimentary Cockeyed Happy bookmark for each member – and one of her exclusive “super fan” pink Cockeyed Happy t-shirts for the club organizer. For more information visit the Book Club page on her darlaworden.com website.
Wyoming native Darla Worden lives in Denver, Colorado, where she is editor in chief of Mountain Living magazine. Worden also is founder and director of the Left Bank Writers Retreat in Paris and a journalist known for articles about art, architecture, travel and the West. Her quest to uncover the story of Hemingway’s time in Wyoming was first sparked when she learned the author had actually spent a summer in her hometown of Sheridan and nearby Big Horn, Wyoming. For additional information about Cockeyed Happy and related book events, visit darlaworden.com or follow @darlaworden on Instagram.
Media contact: Anne McGregor Parsons, anne@wordprmarketing.com, 303.548.4611