Saturday, January 19, 2008

On Poe's Birthday

Today is the 199th birthday of Edgar Allan Poe, and celebrations are underway in Baltimore.

Yesterday, the Carroll County Times ran an article about this year's festivities, complete with a Poe timeline and a profile of Jeff Jerome (curator of the Poe House). The piece notes that Jerome will be announcing a new Poe discovery at the celebration: "It's something about Poe we've always chalked up to rumor. It's not earth shattering, but it's very interesting."

Ed, our favorite Philadelphia-Poe partisan, has infiltrated enemy territory for the weekend and promises a report back. He also notes that he's got a new blog in the works: Ed and Edgar, "which will document my adventures with Edgar Allan Poe this year." Excellent!

Poe's also featured on today's "Writer's Almanac" with Garrison Keillor, so don't miss a segment from The Fall of the House of Usher and an excellent short essay on Poe's life and works.