The Hawaii State Library will host "Happy 200th Birthday, Mr. Poe: A Evening with Edgar Allan Poe" at 6 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 22 in the First Floor Reading Room.

Sponsored by the Friends of the Library of Hawaii and the Hawaii Center for the Book, this free program will celebrate the bicentennial of Edgar Allan Poe's birth and feature a scary night of storytelling. The one-hour program is suitable for ages 12 and older.

Three of Poe's classics, "The Pit and the Pendulum" "The Raven" and "The Fall of the House of Usher," will be performed by sign-language storyteller Ed Chevy, accompanied by interpretive reader Michelle Morris.

Chevy is a deaf rock musician, composer, sign language musical performer, storyteller, and humorist. He grew up deaf in an American deaf family, and American Sign Language was his first language. Chevy has made a career of bringing Edgar Allan Poe's gothic tales to life.

Morris has been a professional interpreter for the past 18 years.

The Hawaii State Library is located at 478 South King St., corner of Punchbowl and South King streets. For more information, call the library's Language, Literature & History Section: 586-3499.