DEARBORN — The Big Read Dearborn is underway. 

The community-wide reading initiative launched Thursday, Oct. 8 with an introduction to the 19th-century poet and mystery and macabre writer Edgar Allan Poe.

The Big Read Dearborn encourages children and adults to read for pleasure and aims to engage them with community activities based on a book selection. This year’s program will focus on “The Great Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe.”

Poe is considered the inventor of detective fiction and helped develop the science fiction genre. Among his most famous works are “The Tell-Tale Heart”, “The Pit and the Pendulum,” and the poem “Annabel Lee.” 

With crafts for children and a screening of the 1963 film “The Raven”, which is based on Poe’s poem of the same name, the launch was a preview of the activities that will be part of The Big Read Dearborn.

Other events will begin in February, including book discussions, mystery reenactments, wine tastings and lectures on detective work and dream interpretation.

This is the second year for The Big Read in Dearborn, which began in 2014 with events based on Jack London’s book “The Call of the Wild.”