Ernest Hemingway is a highly respected American novelist of the early 20th century. Even while he was alive, he had admirers who probably wanted to meet him personally and have a small chat about writing. That's what Arnold Samuelson did as a 22-year-old in 1934. He hitchhiked from Minnesota all the way to Key West, just to meet Hemingway.
When he got there, he only expected to talk with the man for a few minutes and be on his way back home. He stayed for a year with Hemingway, and wrote a book titled "With Hemingway: A Year in Key West and Cuba" which was published in 1984, three years after Samuelson's death.
While there, Hemingway gave Samuelson a list of books that he believed any writer should have read as part of their education. It included books by Russian writers Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoyevsky, the American poet E.E. Cummings, the Irish novelist James Joyce, and the English novelist Emily Brontë.
Apart from that, Hemingway also gave Samuelson a few other tips on becoming a good writer. These included advice such as competing with dead writers and stealing from the things you read. These, and other words of advice from Hemingway on Flashbak.
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