We’ve been a little quiet the last two months, preparing for a very, very big announcement about the future of The Edgar Allan Poe House & Museum. Final details remain a tantalizing distance away, but I can assure you we are looking forward to a very exciting festival season and anouncements in the coming weeks. Click to watch our sizzle reel!
Festival weekend event tickets, Black Cat Ball, and Poe House tours go on sale to the public when the clock strikeds midnight July 1. But all you really have to do is SAVE THE DATE: Poe Fest International is for everyone, October 7-8, and General Admission is FREE! Click to read this month’s newsletter.
Yours in Poe,
Enrica Jang
Director, Poe Baltimore
A WellSPRING at Poe
Wherever you are, Poe Nation, you too are more than likely experiencing some kind of maddening weather. Warmer temperatures in Baltimore = a rising pollen count + an uptick in visitors darkening Poe’s chamber door at Amity Street. The season has officially begun!
We can all go back to cold and melancholy when it’s over, but for now we wish our Poe-nation friends and family a warm, happy holiday. May it be filled with love and poetry.
CLICK HERE to read about upcoming events at Poe House, holiday schedules, and the Official 2022-23 Young Saturday Visiter Nominees.
Virginia Poe Bicentennial
It’s time to celebrate! Virginia Eliza Clemm Poe, wife and muse of Edgar Allan Poe, turns 200 on Monday. We will commemorate the occasion with a special Gothic Tea Party and Summer Reception at Westminster Hall & Burying Ground on Saturday, August 13, at 2PM. (Note: Tickets have sold out! Join the waitlist on the Eventbrite page.) Can’t join us? We will stream highlights from the Reception and a special Happy Birthday to Virginia Poe on Monday, 7PM Eastern, on our Facebook & YouTube pages.
Our most poetical year of programming won’t end with Virginia’s birthday, however: several of this year’s International Edgar Allan Poe Festival & Awards events, including the VIP Death Weekend Bus Tours and the NEW Edgar & Virginia Poe Death Exhibit exploring the hidden-history of this enigmatic figure in Poe’s life.
More celebration is in order: Official Nominees for the 2022 Saturday Visiter Awards have been announced! Read our newsletter to see this year’s selection of Poe-inspired works. More about these extraordinary creators coming soon.
Yours in Poe, Enrica Jang
Director, Poe Baltimore
There’s nothing lazy about Summer days at Poe House, though much of the action will be virtual this month.
First, we interrupt our most poetical year of Virginia Poe programming for a Father’s Day parley: join us for “Allan vs. Poe” a discussion about Edgar Allan Poe, John Allan, and fatherhood with POEtic Justice Productions of Ayrshire, Scotland, ancestral home of the man who put the Allan in Edgar Allan Poe.
Next, register to attend the penultimate session in the Virginia Poe Bicentennial Discussion Series, part of a year of monthly programs to commemorate the 200th birthday of Virginia Poe, Edgar Allan Poe’s wife and muse. On June 21 we present “MARRIAGE, The Public Scandals and Private Tragedies of Mr. and Mrs. Poe.”
Finally, this is the last month for PAVERS FOR POE FEST pre-sales before tickets for the International Edgar Allan Poe Festival & Awards go on sale July 1. Look for announcements and a peek at the festival sizzle reel later this month. Read our newsletter for more!
Yours in Poe, Enrica Jang
Director, Poe Baltimore
Spring is the maddest season as it’s the official beginning of planning for Poe Fest International: date has been set for the International Edgar Allan Poe Festival & Awards and “Death Weekend” is slated for October 8th & 9th, 2022. We begin to assemble our hale and light-hearted friends with the return of PAVERS FOR POE FEST Tour Ticket pre-sales! Poe Fest International is a FREE community festival, but additional tours and ticketed events abound. Support the Edgar Allan Poe House & Museum with an engraved paver in Poe Park, get first access to the official festival t-shirt and Bus Tours of Poe’s Baltimore! As ever, proceeds benefit The Edgar Allan Poe House & Museum in Baltimore.
Check out the new addition to this year’s festival poster as our program and festival events are inspired by the Virginia Poe Bicentennial, a most poetical year of events and exhibits to commemorate the 200th birthday of Edgar Allan Poe’s wife and muse.
But why wait to commemorate? Join us this month, April 19 at 7PM, at Westminster Hall & Burying Ground for POETESS. The Virginia Poe Bicentennial Discussion Series welcomes female-identifying poets from Baltimore & Richmond for a special National Poetry Month reading of Poe works and original poetry, plus presentations from the Poe Studies Association and The Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore. Read more about this and other Poe House events in the Poe Baltimore House Newsletter.
We’re feeling LUCKY this month at Poe House: after two years, PINTS FOR POE returns! Join us at the Annabel Lee Tavern on St. Patrick’s Day for a special “Kiss Me, I WAS Irish” event. Hourly raffle begins at 6PM, and donations and portion of proceeds benefit The Edgar Allan Poe House & Museum in Baltimore. Raise a glass to support Poe House programs!
It’s not luck that we begin our Virginia Poe Bicentennial Discussion Series during Women’s History Month. Join us March 15th for a live recording of MUSE: the Life and Afterlife of Edgar Allan Poe’s Beloved CHild Bride. Register to attend and participate in live Q&A with presenters from Poe House, The Poe Cottage at Fordham, and Morgan State University. We hope to be in person at Westminster Hall next month, so stay tuned!
Whether you join in person, participate online, or even pick up gifts in our online shop, you support Poe House programs like The International Edgar Allan Poe Festival, the Virginia Poe Bicentennial, and The Saturday ‘Visiter’ Awards. Read our latest newsletter and welcome our 2022 slate of SVA judges, as well as guest-of-honor, bestselling author, Lynn Cullen.
August began with the (un)happy announcement of 18 nominees for the 2019 Saturday ‘Visiter’ Awards, a new honor recognizing the best artists and writers creating Poe-inspired works from around the world. Composers, video game designers, writers, filmmakers, painters and poets all made the list. Attendees at this year’s International Edgar Allan Poe Festival will get to meet the nominees, and the winners will be revealed at the Black Cat Ball at Westminster Hall October 5th! Congratulations and good luck to all our nominees!
There’s still plenty to do and share this month: our Poe House Presents Maryland author series welcomes the President of the Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore, David F. Gaylin, for a special reading this coming Sunday, Aug 11. And visitors may also join us Saturday, Aug 31, at “Will You Say That I Am Mad?”, presented at Poe’s Magic Theater in The Lord Baltimore Hotel. Read our latest newsletter for details; you don’t want to miss anything!
