Baltimore, MD, July 31, 2023  – Today, Poe Baltimore, with the support of La Cite Development, announced that they have received a major investment from Wells Fargo Bank to support the Annual International Edgar Allan Poe Festival & Awards taking place October 7 & 8, 2023.  The commitment of $300,000 over a three-year period will provide for the Edgar Allan Poe House & Museum’s largest program, keeping the festival a free community event and premier tourist destination for Poe-lovers from all over the world.

“Wells Fargo’s investment to the International Edgar Allan Poe Festival helps to support and maintain an important institution that not only continues Poe’s legacy, it also promotes the significance of education, the arts, and literature. This is a great opportunity for Well Fargo to contribute to the preservation of a literacy heritage for future generations to appreciate and celebrate,” said Wells Fargo Vice President and Senior Social Impact and Sustainability Specialist, Traci N. Horne. “We believe this is an opportunity for Wells Fargo to help bring excitement and legendary entertainment to a city we have supported over the years. Baltimore has been a city where Wells Fargo has been a pillar for many local nonprofit organizations and now the International Edgar Allan Poe Festival can be a part of our legacy that reflects positive impact for our communities.”

The funds for the festival will assist Poe Baltimore in expanding educational components and providing the festival with additional ways in which to partner with the community to promote art, culture, and literacy.

“We are extremely honored to work with the City of Baltimore, Poe Baltimore, and our local partners to help implement our shared vision of making communities stronger and more prosperous,” said Dan Bythewood, La Cité Development’s President. “Equally so, we are thrilled to have worked closely with Wells Fargo in securing this substantial commitment and look forward to continuing our efforts to building a broader, more inclusive neighborhood.”

Enrica Jang, Executive Director for Poe Baltimore, the nonprofit that maintains and interprets The Edgar Allan Poe House & Museum, says this level of funding from Wells Fargo is transformative: “We are extremely grateful for Wells Fargo’s investment in our vision to highlight Baltimore history, gothic literature and art, as well as educational programming.”

The 6^th Annual International Edgar Allan Poe Festival is set to take place this Fall, October 7 & 8, 2023. For information about the festival, visit https://poefestinternational.org.

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Poe Baltimore is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization created to fund, maintain and interpret The Edgar Allan Poe House and Museum, and to celebrate the legacy of one of Baltimore’s most famous residents.  The organization is dedicated to maintaining the museum as a vibrant experience for the thousands of visitors who come from around the world each year, and as part of a broader mission of city-wide events and educational opportunities celebrating Poe’s legacy in Baltimore and beyond.

Poe Fest Int’l Tickets On Sale July 1!

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!

For now, only three days left to see your Paver for Poe Fest at the festival in October as pre-sales for the International Edgar Allan Poe Festival & Awards are happening now thru Friday. 2022 festival merch is on sale now as we get ready to stock the store with all new 2023 festival gear! And this year’s exhibit at Westminster Hall is 2-for-1 and includes a PREVIEW WEEK: tickets for the Poe in Comics & Poe Death Exhibits are available now. See it for half off before the festival begins.

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!

Festival weekend dates have been announced and pre-sales for the International Edgar Allan Poe Festival & Awards are happening now thru June 30. We are also very pleased to announce our 2023 Saturday ‘Visiter’ Awards Guest of Honor, Rodney Barnes, and our distinguished panel of Judges from Poe Places and Maryland Arts organizations. In May, look for changing hours (now open Wednesdays in May.) If you plan to stop by, be sure to pick up NEW “Legend of the Poe Toaster” Mystery Mugs in the Poe House gift shop! Read this month’s newsletter for all this and more details.

Yours in Poe,
Enrica Jang
Director, Poe Baltimore

The 2022 International Edgar Allan Poe Festival & Awards is less than a month away! This FREE community event is two days of Poe-themed programs, including performances, books, music and art. The stage program and vendor list has posted! Special tours and exhibits at The Edgar Allan Poe House & Museum and Westminster Hall & Burying Ground will also continue even beyond festival weekend.

There’s a lot to remember. Know Before You Poe! Read the latest newsletter to check out our list of 10 Things everyone should know about Poe Fest International, then watch our Facebook & YouTube channel every Thursday this month for more information about Poe Festival events!

Yours in Poe,
Enrica Jang
Director, Poe Baltimore

The International Edgar Allan Poe Festival & Awards returns for a fifth year in Baltimore, October 8 & 9th, 2022. This is a FREE community event, but VIP Death Weekend Bus Tours and tickets for The Black Cat Ball are ON SALE now. This year’s party is Gothic Wedding themed; VIP ticket-holders pledge to love and honor a partner, friend, or even yourself for your eternal afterlives in a special ceremony in the Westminster Hall Catacombs.

Tickets are also available for the Edgar & Virginia Poe Death Exhibit. Death tableau and memento mori (some items made from human hair!) will be part of this haunting exhibit at Westminster Hall. Don’t want to wait? Enjoy a special preview of the exhibit at our final session in the Virginia Poe Bicentennial Discussion Series on July 19 as we present MOURNING, The Strange Afterlives of Edgar and Virginia Poe. You may also join us for a Gothic Tea Party & Summer Reception at Westminster Hall as we celebrate Virginia Poe’s 200th birthday, August 13.

Need we remind you that tickets for these special events fly away fast as wings of ravens? Read our newsletter so you don’t miss any-Poe-thing!

Yours in Poe,
Enrica Jang
Director, Poe Baltimore

“The angels, whispering to one another

Can find, among their burning terms of love

None so devotional as that of ‘Mother.’”

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.

Looking for a unique Mother’s Day gift? Reserve tickets for the LIVE recording of the Virginia Poe Bicentennial Discussion Series, May 10th, or our Gothic Tea Party for Virginia Poe’s Birthday, August 13th, at Westminster Hall & Burying Grounds. You might also consider purchasing a PAVER FOR POE FEST and inscribe your devotion on a special paver at The Edgar Allan Poe House & Museum. Packages include VIP Death Weekend bus tour tickets at this year’s International Edgar Allan Poe Festival & Awards.

Click to read our newsletter to find out more. 

Yours in Poe,
Enrica Jang
Director, Poe Baltimore

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.

Yours in Poe,
Enrica Jang
Director, Poe Baltimore

P.S. Deadline to enter the 2022 Saturday ‘Visiter’ Awards is next month! Share the news with your favorite artists and writers who create Poe-inspired art: SaturdayVisiterAwards.org

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!

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.

Click here to read about all of our events–you don’t want to miss out on any(Poe)thing!