Arts group sets sights on USA for Poe festival
AYRSHIRE arts company Poetic Justice Productions have been invited to Baltimore to take part in a festival marking the 175th anniversary of the death of author Edgar Allan Poe.
And the community interest company have now launched a fundraiser to help take them there.
Poetic Justice was formed a few years ago with the view of starting a festival to celebrate the time the young Edgar Allan Poe spent in Ayrshire as a child.
The boy who would go on to write Gothic horror classics The Raven, The Masque of the Red Death and The Black Cat was brought to Ayrshire by his foster parents, Dundonald-born John Allan and his wife Francis, who took in the young Poe after his parents died.
Aged just six, Poe sailed with the Allans to Scotland, where they spent time at the home of John Allan’s sister in Irvine. Edgar attended Irvine Grammar School and also stayed in Kilmarnock for a period before heading with the family to London.
Poetic Justice director Neil Smith – chief reporter with Ayrshire Weekly Press – said: “Our original plans to host a three day celebration of Poe’s time in Irvine, were hit by the pandemic.
“However we have staged annual events in the towns, with readings, movies and performances, as well as running a short story competition which has attracted entries from around the world.
“We’ve also been closely involved with Poe Baltimore, who run the Edgar Allan Poe House and Museum in the US.
“Just a few weeks ago, my colleague Steven Duffy and I gave a talk about the troubled relationship between Edgar and his foster father at an online event organised by our friends at Poe Baltimore.
“Now we have the chance to represent Scotland in Baltimore.
“We have applied for funding for the air travel, but currently have had no success, so we have now set up a fund if anyone would like to help us out.
“We are hoping to raise £2,500,
which will pay for travel costs from Scotland to Baltimore including any internal travel and visas for three of our company members.
“We hope this will allow us to strengthen our relationship with Poe Baltimore and to meet new contacts which will help us to bring our own festival to Scotland in the future.”
Poetic Justice have also contributed to Doomsday, an international 24-hour reading of Poe’s works.
Neil said: “We contributed a short film about Poe’s life in Ayrshire to the event and we’re keen to bring the project to Scotland next year.
“With any luck we could have a sponsored 24 hour Poe reading in Irvine, which would be great fun and put Ayrshire firmly on the Poe tourist map.”
Donations can be made securely using collctiv using the link https://pay.collctiv.com/poefest-2024-25706.