Sharon Pajka, the prolific Richmond-region author and cemetery friend, releases a new book today. Titled The Souls Close to Edgar Allan Poe, it has an inviting cover photograph of the Allan grave markers in Shockoe Hill Cemetery.
Sharon explains: “My book includes a collection of thirty-seven memorials, nineteen cemeteries and five states, plus Washington, D.C. To have a fuller story of Poe and the people with whom he associated, I went to cemeteries and visited graves of his mother, wife, foster family, first and last fiancée, bosses, friends, cousins, school peers and instructors. Not only that but I wore the perfume that his foster mother was known to wear, I sat near the water where he recited poetry 174 years ago, and I planted violets at a grave where violets once grew. I hope that this guide encourages readers of Poe to visit the cemeteries in the collection to create their own experiences with those connected to Poe.”
Sharon is a marvelous tour leader, and she brings the best of those qualities to her research and writing. Her previous book, Women Writers Buried in Virginia, was a hit, I am looking forward to this one. Learn more at sharonpajka.com. Congratulations Professor Pajka!