Despite being orphaned at a young age, Edgar Allan Poe had real reason to believe the angels: it was the women he knew as ‘mother’—his aunt, Maria Clemm, his foster mother, Frances Allan, even his grandmother, Elizabeth Cairnes Poe—whose devotion made his life (both literal and literary) possible. As we continue this most poetical year of events and exhibits to commemorate the 200th birthday of Edgar Allan Poe’s wife and muse, Virginia Poe, in May we celebrate all thing Mother, spread the love, and recognize the other women in the Poe family.
On Mother’s Day, May 8th, we’ll PREVIEW our program MOTHER: Hidden Her-stories of the Women in the Poe Family, including a Revolutionary War Patriot and how a mother’s love changed literary history. Watch at 7PM, Sunday May 8th.
P.S. Would you like to express your devotion to a “mom” in your life? Leave a message for mom here and we might play it when our preview streams on Mother’s Day: https://www.speakpipe.com/VirginiaPoe
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.
The 2021 International Edgar Allan Poe Festival was a smashing success–and we mean it literally: this year’s crowd estimate of over two thousand people exceeded even pre-pandemic numbers, and this doesn’t include the thousands of viewers who tuned in to our virtual program on Facebook and YouTube Live from all over the Poe world. In a year of continuing uncertainty and trepidation, we were thrilled to see the return of so many. Winners of the 2021 Saturday ‘Visiter’ Awards were announced festival weekend and we look forward to sharing more of their work with you in the coming year.
A very big thank you to all attendees, viewers, sponsors, vendors, volunteers and staff for continuing our mission and helping us to commemorate the anniversary of Poe’s death in Baltimore. Poe Fest International will return in 2022!
The revelries haven’t ended. Three nominees for the first Young SVAs have been notified and the winner will be announced together with a streamed encore presentation of the Best of Poe Fest International on Facebook & YoutTube Live October 30. And our Poe Death Exhibit is going on tour! See the installation at the Laurel Museum Halloween weekend and through next month. Read the latest newsletter about these and other events here. An (un)happy Poe-tober to all!
Yours in Poe,
Enrica Jang Director, Poe Baltimore
The 2020 International Edgar Allan Poe Festival & Awards is streaming LIVE the weekend of October 3 & 4th, commemorating the 171st anniversary of Poe’s Death in Baltimore. Watch for FREE on Facebook & YouTube Live.
Streaming program for Saturday & Sunday has posted! A coffin-building workshop. A POE-vid mask tutorial. A Tell-Tale Heart Interactive mock trial. Art demos, theatrical performances, secret codes, even a special Sunday Brunch with Edgar Allan Poe’s mother (the woman is dead, but that shouldn’t spoil brunch.) See our list of events right here. More details added as we get closer to DEATH WEEKEND.
Add-on experiences also available, including the Poe in Film & Fashion Virtual Exhibit, NEW this year in addition to Virtual Tours of the Edgar Allan Poe House & Museum, and the Death Weekend Poe Places Virtual Tour of Poe’s Baltimore.
“TRUE! –nervous –very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad?”
The Tell-Tale Heart
Traditionally, July is one of the busiest (and hottest!) months at Poe House. We will be closed on Thursday for the July 4th holiday, but we will re-open for regular museum hours Friday, Saturday and Sunday this weekend. A good thing, too, because we are bursting like fireworks to share with you news about upcoming events!
Tickets for this year’s International Edgar Allan Poe Festival & Awards are on sale now! Admission to the festival is FREE, but VIP Death Weekend Bus Tours, Poe’s Funeral Re-enactment, as well as our official party, The Black Cat Ball at Westminster Hall, are special (and LIMITED) add-ons you won’t want to miss. We are also hosting a special festival program preview with Poe’s Magic Theater at The Lord Baltimore Hotel, “Will You Say That I Am Mad?” to explore a feminine twist on Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart. Click here to get all the details about what you can expect at Poe House, the festival and beyond!
See what I did there? Spring is truly well for visitors this month: we recently unveiled a new Poe House history kiosk as part of our permanent exhibit. In April we welcomed a new Maryland author in our Poe House Presents series. Now that dates for Pints for Poe, and the International Edgar Allan Poe Festival & Awards have been set, more details about both are rolling out. Finally, The Saturday ‘Visiter’ Awards recently revealed the panel of judges who will select winners at the 2019 ceremony. We are pleased to welcome speaker and guest-of-honor, author Louis Bayard, who will present award medals to recipients at this year’s Black Cat Ball at Westminster Hall. (Pssst! Artists, writers, filmmakers and other creators still have thru May 30 to enter.)
Our crowd estimate came in at nearly 2000 people who attended the inaugural International Edgar Allan Poe Festival & Awards and made our event a resounding success! We’ve posted photos at PoeBaltimore.org and even more from the Poe Funeral re-enactment and The Black Cat Ball on Facebook, so be sure to take a peek. Also included are pictures from the sold-out Halloween Encore at The Carroll Mansion!
2019 Poe House Calendars are here! Pick them up at Poe House, or shop online.
Our crowd estimate came in at nearly 2000 people over two days who attended the inaugural International Edgar Allan Poe Festival & Awards and made our event a resounding success! Two days of music, food, vendors, artists and booksellers, with performances and programming that took place in the shadow of The Edgar Allan Poe House in Baltimore. It was a wonderful event, and we wish to thank all the attendees, sponsors, and volunteers!
Couldn’t be there? Take a scroll through our photo gallery–this is the first batch of official photos from festival weekend! #PoeFestInternational2018 (Photos Kathryn Dulny, and Poe Baltimore.)
Copyright Poe Fest Int’l. Photo: Kathryn Dulny
Copyright Poe Fest Int’l. Photo: Kathryn Dulny
Copyright Poe Fest Int’l. Photo: Kathryn Dulny
Copyright Poe Fest Int’l. Photo: Kathryn Dulny
Copyright Poe Fest Int’l. Photo: Kathryn Dulny
Copyright Poe Fest Int’l. Photo: Kathryn Dulny
Copyright Poe Fest Int’l. Photo: Kathryn Dulny
Copyright Poe Fest Int’l. Photo: Kathryn Dulny
Photo courtesy Ian Arias
Copyright Poe Fest Int’l. Photo: Kathryn Dulny
Copyright Poe Fest Int’l. Photo: Kathryn Dulny
Copyright Poe Fest Int’l. Photo: Kathryn Dulny
Copyright Poe Fest Int’l. Photo: Kathryn Dulny
Copyright Poe Fest Int’l. Photo: Kathryn Dulny
Copyright Poe Fest Int’l. Photo: Kathryn Dulny
Copyright Poe Fest Int’l. Photo: Kathryn Dulny
Copyright Poe Fest Int’l. Photo: Kathryn Dulny
Copyright Poe Fest Int’l. Photo: Kathryn Dulny
Copyright Poe Fest Int’l. Photo: Kathryn Dulny
Copyright Poe Fest Int’l. Photo: Kathryn Dulny
Copyright Poe Fest Int’l. Photo: Kathryn Dulny
Copyright Poe Fest Int’l. Photo: Kathryn Dulny
Copyright Poe Fest Int’l. Photo: Kathryn Dulny
Copyright Poe Fest Int’l. Photo: Kathryn Dulny
Copyright Poe Fest Int’l. Photo: Kathryn Dulny
Copyright Poe Fest Int’l. Photo: Kathryn Dulny
Copyright Poe Fest Int’l. Photo: Kathryn Dulny
Click to read our Fall Newsletter
This is the most I’ve enjoyed writing a Poe Baltimore newsletter as I am so excited to share news of what we have planned this Fall at Poe House. Official press announcements went out last week for our newest event, The International Edgar Allan Poe Festival & Awards, happening the weekend of October 6 & 7th, commemorating the 169th anniversary of Poe’s Death. It’s an entirely a pro-POE beginning to the Halloween season!
The festival is FREE. But that’s not all: a special “Death Weekend” bus tour includes a haunting reenactment of Poe’s funeral and tour of Poe’s Baltimore. The Black Cat Ball will be our official festival party aboard “Raven”, a steamship yacht in Inner Harbor! Plus, starting in October, visitors can expect to see new exhibits at Poe House, including a new phone tour of many other important “Poe Places” around the city. Click here to find out more!
