{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"The AP Strange Show","title":"Celebrating Poe (and more!) with Meg Smith","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":4081,"description":"This week's show is a celebration of Edgar Allan Poe with journalist, poet, and events producer Meg Smith! Meg is one of the organizers behind the Poe in Lowell Festival, an annual event entering its third year in her hometown of Lowell, MA. In conversation, she explains Poe's connections to the city, the people he interacted with, and influence throughout the region. Of course, there's plenty to talk about with Poe, from his beginnings in Boston to his death in Baltimore- and the spectral imprint he left on all the places in between! Meg also discusses the strange correlations between Poe and Lowell's own Jack Kerouac, whose festival occurs in the week's leading up to Poe's in the city. In exploring local literary history, Meg and AP dig into the almost mythic presence such well-known writers occupy in the public imagination- and how locales frequented by them retain some of their spirit.\nIf that's not enough, they also get into Poe's influence on H. P. Lovecraft and the Providence festival that celebrates him, Meg shares stories from working at Spooky World in the 90s, and she talks about her upcoming Martian New Year's party in Worcester! The conversation covers a lot of ground, from the gothic to the beat generation and onward into space- and Meg had so many great insights to share!\nCheck out Meg's work at http://megsmithwriter.com/ , find her on instagram at @megsmithwriter , and follow along with her journalism at https://www.worcestermag.com/","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/clIz75v7gUPwrbWfdytwckFC9gFVaBVNFJOsPNTopEc/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9lOGQ0/ZmFlYTFhYjFmOWVm/YjMxMWNhNjRlNjYw/YjkwNi5wbmc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}