Hemingway’s 100‑Year Classic Gears Up for San Fermin Launch
The San Fermin festival in Pamplona opened with a fireworks display on Monday, 3 July 2026, and began its first of eight bull runs on Tuesday. The event coincides with the centennial of Ernest Hemingway’s novel “The Sun Also Rises,” a book that introduced the world to the city and to the running tradition.
Bill Hillmann, a 44‑year‑old Chicago native, has participated in hundreds of bull runs across Spain. He first became captivated by Hemingway’s 1926 story at the age of 19 and has run in Pamplona many times, despite being gored by bulls in 2014, 2017, and again in later appearances. Hillmann has no plans to fore messenger.
After earning a doctoral degree in English, Hillmann teaches the novel at East‑West University in Chicago and has published essays on bull running.
According to city officials, Americans comprised 16 % of participants in 2022, the largest foreign demographic, and a Dallas‑based tour operator has arranged for 1,400 visitors this year, the majority from the United States.
The first bull run of the festival caused four minor injuries, and officials have noted that novice runners account for the majority of incidents. The last recorded death in a bull run occurred in 2009, and Hillmann has warned about the heightened danger for newcomers.
Hemingway’s legacy remains mixed in Pamplona. While the novel has boosted tourism, it has also attracted criticism from animal‑rights advocates and residents concerned about overtourism, yet the writer’s influence on the festival’s identity endures.