The Misericordia University College of Arts and Sciences, Pauly Friedman Art Gallery and the Soyka Fund for the Humanities are bringing together a collection of pictures, experts and students for a series of events to recount the life and work of American writer Ernest Hemingway. Fans of the late Nobel Prize-winning novelist, short-story writer and journalist will be able to hear a firsthand account of his life from his former secretary, Valerie Hemingway, during the opening of the exhibit, "Hemingway and the Veneto,'' in the Pauly Friedman Art Gallery on Saturday. The exhibit in the gallery runs through Dec. 10.

The exhibition, on loan from Venice International University, showcases photographs of Hemingway and the people, places and things that were dearest to him during two important eras of his life: World War I and his time in Venice and Veneto, the northeastern region of Italy that surrounds Venice.Valerie Hemingway will offer the keynote for the opening reception's program, "Perspectives on Hemingway and the Image: A Symposium on the Life and Writing of Ernest Hemingway,'' at 5 p.m. Saturday in Lemmond Theater in Walsh Hall.Nationally known Hemingway scholars will also participate in a roundtable discussion from 3-4:30 p.m. in the Friedman Art Gallery. The program and exhibit are open, free to the public.For more information about the conference, please contact Dr. Nickel at

mnickel@misericordia.edu. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Friday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday 1 to 5 p.m.