La Plata City Honors Edgar Allan Poe’s Bicentennial

April 29, 2009

Juan Maidana (secretary culture La Plata), Lautaro Gomez López (exhibition coordinator), Rafael Velásquez (Pro Humanae Vitae) and John Finn, Cultural Affairs officer

On April 29 at the US Embassy booth in the Buenos Aires Book Fair, a delegation from the Municipality of La Plata presented the city's program honoring the bicentennial of the birth of the great American writer, Edgar Allan Poe. Juan Maidana, La Plata Secretary of Culture, presented the program to the Cultural Attache John Finn. Lautaro Gomez Lopez, Program Coordinator, and Rafael Velasquez, Executive Director of Fundacion Pro Humanae Vitae and President of the Foundation of Argentine American Exchange Alumni, attended the event.

Edgar Allan Poe was born in Baltimore on January 19, 1809. He grew up in Virginia.  Poe wrote novels, poems, and essays, but is better known for his short stories “The Masque of the Red Death”, “The Fall of the House of Usher”, “The Premature Burial”. His short story “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” is considered the first detective story in literature.

The celebration program in La Plata includes an exhibit of reproductions of engravings by Gustave Dore, that illustrate Poe's poem "The Raven"; series of films based on Poe’s short stories, directed by Roger Corman and starring Vincent Price; a musical and dance show directed by Ruben Martinez, and a painting, photograph and comic contest related to Poe’s works.