Baltimore’s 19th-century flowering as a port city of both industry and culture, just south of the Mason-Dixon Line, prompted the pens of some of America’s most celebrated authors. Along with blue crabs and the B&O Railroad, Baltimore is known for its literary heritage, which, with writers such as Laura Lippman and Anne Tyler, shows no sign of letting up. Something about Baltimore clearly nurtures the literary impulse, but what is it, exactly? The allure of the famed harbor? Its heritage of Southern ways? The city’s journalistic traditions?
Arts journalist and Charm City resident Richard Selden takes a look at the sites and works closely connected with the most famous writers who lived—and, in two cases, died—in Baltimore: Edgar Allan Poe, Gertrude Stein, H. L. Mencken, and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Along the way he shares historic and contemporary images and reads passages from each author’s work.
Patron Information
- If you register multiple individuals, you will be asked to supply individual names and email addresses so they can receive a Zoom link email. Please note that if there is a change in program schedule or a cancellation, we will notify you via email, and it will be your responsibility to notify other registrants in your group.
- Unless otherwise noted, registration for streaming programs typically closes two hours prior to the start time on the date of the program.
- Once registered, patrons should receive an automatic email confirmation from CustomerService@SmithsonianAssociates.org.
- Separate Zoom link information will be emailed closer to the date of the program. If you do not receive your Zoom link information 24 hours prior to the start of the program, please email Customer Service for assistance.
- View Common FAQs about our Streaming Programs on Zoom.
