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Who is Baltimore's favorite son? Could it be Johns Hopkins, Dr. Ben Carson, Billie Holiday or John Waters? Babe Ruth? Thurgood Marshall? Michael Phelps? Nancy Pelosi? Cal Ripken? Duff Goldman?

For those of literary bent, hands down it's Edgar Allan Poe, the only one capable of inspiring a year's worth of events to celebrate his 200th birthday.

He's surely the only author of his time to do so, says Jeff Jerome, curator of the Poe House on Amity Street.

"I wanted events that were fun as well as educational," he adds. "One way to turn people off is to lecture to them -- yawn!"

And especially inappropriate for an author whose macabre flights of imagination came not from drugs or mental illness but as a deliberate response to what people wanted to read, the curator maintains.

Even those who don't know a raven from a writing desk are aware that the city's football team has been named for his most famous poem. Take that, would-be culture vultures Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Richmond, other cities where Poe lived and worked!

"Nevermore 2009" actually began last November and revved up during Poe's birth month of January.

All right, Poe wasn't actually born in Baltimore -- that event occurred in Boston on Jan. 19, 1809 -- but he launched his literary career here, writing a dozen stories during the years 1832-35, says actor David Keltz, a specialist in one-man Poe performances who will be taking part in the commemoration. And of course the poet famously died here on Oct. 9, 1849, only 40 years old.

For the rest of the year, many of B-more's cultural institutions and events will be participating in the honors (are you listening, pretender cities?), which is the least that can be done for an author credited with inventing the short story, detective story, science fiction and psychological horror genres.

Back in November, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra did a musical setting of "The Raven" composed and conducted by Leonard Slatkin and narrated by John Astin, and the Pratt Library has already screened several films based on his works.

Festivities began in earnest on Jan. 17 with a three-day birthday celebration at Westminster Hall, adjacent to the burial ground where Poe is interred, that sold out so quickly it was repeated last weekend. No wonder, with a presentation by Astin (best known as the patriarch of television's "Addams Family"), performance of one of Poe's tales and raffle of a sculpted cake from Duff Goldman's Charm City Cakes.

Howard County's own Elkridge Furnace Inn offered six-course, Poe-themed luncheon and dinner menus (each course representing a place he lived; witness Lord Baltimore cake -- served with Amontillado sherry -- to end the meal), which may be repeated in October at the anniversary of his death.

But have no fear of missing out. The fun has just begun.

The Pratt main library has opened its exhibit "Edgar Allan Poe: More than a Poet," featuring Poe memorabilia, photos and letters, including locks of hair from the author and his cousin-wife and even a piece of his coffin, probably from the time of the 1875 reburial in a more prominent spot (if indeed it was Poe's body, but that's another story entirely). In the fall, the library will sponsor a "Poe-ster" contest for city high school students.

On Feb. 12 the Maryland Historical Society will offer cocktails and discussion about Poe's creative (and destructive) process with author Michael Largo.

On Feb. 20 and 21 the Maryland Institute College of Art will present "The Fall of the House of Usher" in the Black Box Theater in its new Gateway Building. You knew MICA students could do sets, lighting and multi-media projections, but who knew they could act, too? Baltimore native and Obie Award winner David Drake conceived and will direct the one-hour experimental piece.

Pull up a headstone

On March 27, " 'The Cask of Amontillado' Wine Tasting among the Bones" will take place in Westminster Hall and catacombs. Vintages mentioned in Poe's works will be sampled while tasters watch a performance of the story in question and mingle with some of his characters.

During the spring, the Art on Purpose collaborative will invite artistic responses to the author in "Poe on Purpose" community workshops at Pratt library branches. The April 25-26 BaltiMORE for Less weekend promises to include a number of "Poe-tastic" events. On the afternoon of April 26 "Poe" will appear at Hampton Mansion in Towson to meet and greet his many admirers. The Ridgely family, long in residence there, were apparently among them.

On June 13, fright fans can again head to Westminster burial ground for a history lesson, fife-and-drum tattoo and presentation of "The Fall of the House of Usher." Visitors are advised to "bring a lawn chair or cozy up to a tombstone."

From July 1 through Sept. 12 Mount Clare Museum House tours will focus on Poe's 1849 essay criticizing American decorative shortcomings, while July 17-19 Artscape will include a special tribute to him.

From July to September (dates not yet announced) the Greater Baltimore History Alliance will sponsor a scavenger hunt exploring the city as Poe knew it and offer prizes for doing so (forms to be made available at www.baltimoremuseums.org).

Thursdays through Sundays Sept. 21-Oct. 4, Poe in Person (in the person of actor Keltz, that is) will be in residence at The Baltimore Theatre Project, presenting not only the author's tales and poetry but, in his own words, what inspired them, as well as some of his literary criticism.

On Sept. 25 the National Museum of Dentistry will offer yet another reason to be afraid with a performance of Poe's "Berenice," a tale of obsession with ... teeth! Afterward, the audience can tour the museum and learn of the 19th century's state-of-the-art dentistry at the world's first dental school, founded in Charm City in 1840.

On Sept. 25-27 the Baltimore Book Festival will, quite rightly, salute the master in ways yet to be announced.

From Oct. 4 through Jan. 17, 2010, the Baltimore Museum of Art will exhibit "Art of Darkness: Inspired by Poe." Some of the 19th century's greatest visual artists, such as Manet, Gauguin and Valloton, took inspiration from or illustrated his works. Staff have organized them into three familiar thematic groups: loss and death, madness and obsession, fear and terror. Chills!

Poetic justice

October being the month of Poe's still-mysterious passing, the Poe House will be in mourning, with a viewing of the body, followed by a candlelight vigil at Westminster graveyard and funeral procession from his home to the service at Westminster Hall, much more to-do than actually honored the author in life ... er, death.

And last but not least, according to the current schedule, in November "The Tell-Tale Heart" murder case will be tried (details yet to be announced) with the audience as jury.

What would Poe think of all this activity?

"He'd be beside himself. He loved the adoration of the public," says curator Jerome. And while Poe would have preferred it to have been about his art and not himself personally, he wouldn't be the least embarrassed, actor Keltz adds. Although the author sometimes put on a front of modesty, he also acknowledged that he had been ambitious from the first moment he could remember.

As a young man, Poe wrote to estranged foster father John Allan in 1828, "The world shall be my theatre ... and the world shall hear of the son you have thought unworthy of your notice." Just so.

And while he was well known (if not well paid) during his life, Poe became as popular in Europe as in the United States, thanks to the admiration of Baudelaire in France. He was also much admired in Spanish-speaking cultures.

Guests flew from Italy for the first weekend of his birthday celebration, notes Jerome. For his bicentennial, commemorations are occurring in Spain, France, Germany, the Czech Republic, Japan and South America. Keltz has performed the role in Prague and may do so in Abu Dhabi (although how much for tourists rather than natives is a question); there's a huge fan base in Japan as well, he says.

For a complete list and more details of Nevermore 2009 activities, which should be checked regularly for additions and updates, see www.nevermore2009.com and poebicentennial.com.

Life and death in Baltimore

Edgar Allan Poe’s mother, actress Elizabeth Arnold Hopkins Poe, had performed in Baltimore at least 80 times (that many are documented) both before and after his birth, until she died before he was yet 3 years old.

As an adult, Poe visited Baltimore periodically from 1827 through 1829, and settled there in 1831 following his court-martial at West Point (for refusal to attend classes or church). He lived in the 900 block of Eastern Avenue or in Mechanics Row on Wilks Street, depending on the source.

From 1833 to 1835 he resided at 3 (now 203) Amity Street with his aunt Maria Clemm and cousin Virginia, who became his wife in 1835.

During the next decade he returned to lecture or visit during the 1840s, for the final time in ’49, when he was found delirious in the Lombard St./Albemarle St. vicinity, since known as Corned Beef Row and now a residential site, and died at Church Home Hospital, Broadway and Fayette Street.

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