Boston College marks Edgar Allen Poe bicentennial

Paul Lewis, an English professor at Boston College, tells USA Today in a recent interview why he plans to duke it out for bragging rights to Edgar Allen Poe's geographic legacy at "The Great Poe Debate" held at the Philadelphia Free Library on Tuesday, Jan. 13.

"He is arguably — I'm not saying everyone would accept this — the most influential writer who was ever born in Boston, and we should celebrate it," he says.

Born in Boston on Jan. 19, 1809 and buried in Baltimore (where he died in 1849 under mysterious circumstances), Poe's legacy will be celebrated in a slew of East Coast cities in January to commemorate the bicentennial of his birth.

Of course, the master of the macabre and author of "The Raven" and "The Tell-Tale Heart" will be commemorated by his hometown crowd ... even though he notoriously detested Boston.

Here's the lowdown:

* 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 15--Program with lectures by writers Matthew Pearl and Scott Peeples, reading of Poe passages, performance of creative work by Boston College students and a Poe birthday cake, Devlin Hall 101, Boston College, Chestnut Hill Campus.

* 7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 16-- Screening of the film "The Last Days of the Raven," followed by Q&A with co-director, screenwriter and star Brent Fidler, Devlin Hall 101, Boston College, Chestnut Hill Campus.