Hearts on the Table with Susan Metallo
Cost: Free book signing
In a twisty transformation of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, populated with queer, trans, and neurodivergent characters, a seventeen-year-old feminist with a penchant for thrashing men at cards finds herself tangled in the last mess she’d ever expect: love.
Strangely Spoken Open Mic Poetry Night
Cost: Free
Join Strangely Spoken RVA and Blue Bee Cider for our monthly open mic poetry night where poets, storytellers and listeners alike come together for a night of creativity, inspiration and community. The Strangely Spoken x Blue Bee Cider open mic poetry night is a place for honest voices and attentive ears.
Sign ups start at 6:30pm!
Seating is first come, first served.
JRW Readings by Writers: Open Mic
Admission: Free
You don’t have to be a member to attend, but you do have to be a JRW member to read.
Listen as James River Writers members share their work—finished, in progress, or somewhere in between, and enjoy some refreshments while you’re there.
Strangely Spoken Open Mic Poetry Night
Cost: Free
Join Strangely Spoken RVA and Blue Bee Cider for our monthly open mic poetry night where poets, storytellers and listeners alike come together for a night of creativity, inspiration and community. The Strangely Spoken x Blue Bee Cider open mic poetry night is a place for honest voices and attentive ears.
Sign ups start at 6:30pm!
Seating is first come, first served.
An Homage to Home: A workshop and Reading
Cost: Free
Spend an afternoon finding community as we explore the questions: Where is your story of origin rooted? & With whom? In an all-skills level workshop meant for Richmonders affected by diaspora, we will dive into poetic storytelling using the practice of ekphrasis—writing based on visual art. For the workshop, please bring a digital or physical copy of any visual art (photograph, short video, painting, etc.) that reminds you of your place of origin. Then stay after the workshop for a reading featuring local writers and an open mic.
Wild At Heart
A Halloween Special of an outrageous, salacious, and scandalous poetry reading / variety show. (Costumes Encouraged)
JRW Readings by Writers: Open Mic
Admission: Free
You don’t have to be a member to attend, but you do have to be a JRW member to read.
Listen as James River Writers members share their work—finished, in progress, or somewhere in between, and enjoy some refreshments while you’re there.
Elle Cosimano & Hannah Morrissey
Join us for a special launch event to celebrate
“Home for the Homicides” with Elle Cosimano and Hannah Morrissey. Moderated by Sara Raasch.
VA Book Launch - The Girl Who was the Color of Nothing: A Children's Story for Adults
Cost: Free
How far will a family go to ensure their daughter’s skin never darkens? The Girl Who was the Color of Nothing: A Children's Story for Adults (2026) explores colorism, using the concept of an illustrated children’s book to engage adult readers and young ones, too.
Join us for a reading by and discussion with author R. Benedito Ferrão which will be moderated by Felix Valentino Salmoran.
All Natural by May Reveley
Cost: Free
Join us for the book launch of May Reveley's debut poetry collection “All Natural,” which beckons readers to revisit life’s landscapes through 14-year-old eyes.
Weird World Adventures with Malorie Mackey and Michael Maldonado
Cost: Free book signing
Malorie Mackey and Michael Maldonado are an adventurous duo. Both members of the world-famous Explorers Club, Malorie and Michael have spent the last year traveling the world filming their unique adventure show Weird World Adventures, which can be seen on Amazon Prime, and creating content for MaloriesAdventures.com.
Malorie and Michael will discuss the show as well their three books.
Strangely Spoken Open Mic Poetry Night
Cost: Free
Join Strangely Spoken RVA and Blue Bee Cider for our monthly open mic poetry night where poets, storytellers and listeners alike come together for a night of creativity, inspiration and community. The Strangely Spoken x Blue Bee Cider open mic poetry night is a place for honest voices and attentive ears.
Sign ups start at 6:30pm!
Seating is first come, first served.
Flying South Reading Series
Admission: Free, donations welcome
Doors: 7:30pm
A reading series in Richmond hosted by Ty Phelps and Jack Sadicario.
No Love Potion with Christina Shawn
Cost: Free
Book People favorite Christina Shawn returns to read “No Love Potion: A Witchy Tale of Magic and Heart.” A funny and heartfelt witch picture book about friendship, feelings, and the unexpected magic of love.
Long Player: Writing About Music. 4 Saturdays with Ty
Cost: $165
Explore and create different genres and forms of music writing. Do you obsessively make playlists? Yearn for the old-school rush of snatching a song from the radio for a mixtape? Thought about writing an essay about your favorite record? In this four week writing class, we’ll read album reviews, personal essays, poetry and more as we explore the intersection between music and literature. Participants will leave with a creative draft of an album review or personal essay, ideas for further exploration, and a reading list. The class will feature a celebratory reading and communal “mixtape” listening session if desired by participants.
Educator Night at Book People
Book People is excited to present an event just for teachers and educators. The evening will feature a panel discussion with local authors Meg Medina, Christina Shawn, Kris Coronado, and Susan Metallo. In addition to discussing their own works, the panelists will share their favorite book recommendations.
Speculative Worlds: Science Fiction & Fantasy Writing
Cost: $300
Explore prompts, exercises, and sample stories from professionals, then write and workshop your own creative draft. Got ideas for a science fiction or fantasy story but aren’t sure how to approach it? Have you wanted to try exploring these imaginative genres but need a push to get started? Looking for like-minded folks with whom to share work and explore ideas? If you answered yes to any of those questions, this is the class for you. We’ll spend the first several weeks creating stories using prompts, exercises, and mentor texts, and then each participant will enjoy a supportive workshop critique of their original work in the final sessions. Participants will leave with a complete draft, feedback, and lots of sample stories and resources.
Everything's Coming Up Makeout: A Retrospective
Cost: Free
A reading in honor of the new Makeout Creek anthology. Quinn Blais, Phil Ford, Hermine Pinson, Nate Waggoner reading, hosted by Andrew Blossom.
Sip & Sign: Local VA Authors at Hardywood Brewery West Creek
Cost: Free
What goes better with a good brew than a book? Meet a group of local Virginia authors at Hardywood Brewery: West Creek for the chance to learn about and purchase their novels and even get them personalized.
Haunted Surry to Suffolk with Pamela K. Kinney
Take a ghost tour of Suffolk and see why the biggest little city is also one of the spookiest.
24th Annual James River Writers Conference
The James River Writers Conference is designed to help you reach your writing goals, whatever they may be. We have included a mix of sessions that cover both the business side of writing as well as craft.
Author RVA: Ellen Huet, “Empire of Orgasm”
Cost: Free
A conversation with Ellen Huet, author of the Empire of Orgasm.
Building on the viral Bloomberg article that exposed the dark side of OneTaste and its founder, Nicole Daedone, Empire of Orgasm tells how a boundary-pushing wellness program became a cult that, according to dozens of witnesses, ruthlessly exploited its members.
A riveting saga and a nuanced exploration of the mechanics of manipulation, Empire of Orgasm is an extraordinary account of wellness gone wrong.
Presented in partnership with Jessie Gaynor (Lit Hub) and Mary Childs (Mary in America).
Ellen Huet is an award-winning investigative journalist who currently writes for Bloomberg News and Bloomberg Businessweek. She’s the author of Empire of Orgasm, a book about OneTaste, a sexual wellness company alleged to be a sex cult.
Parallel Listening Series
Cost: Free (donations encouraged)
Join us for this intentional listening experience feat. readings by Nick George the Poet, Jeffrey McDaniel, Kendra DeColo-Korine and Camilla Cabot, and music by Erin Roukous and M Brett Jones
Button Gwinnett: America’s Accidental Founding Father
Cost: Free
Button Gwinnett: America's Accidental Founding Father tells the story of this fascinating man who didn't want to serve in Congress in 1776, but he went and ended up voting for independence.
New York Times bestselling author Mark Di Vincenzo joins us on Saturday, September 19th at 1 PM to discuss Button Gwinnett: America's Accidental Founding Father.
Strangely Spoken Open Mic Poetry Night
Cost: Free
Join Strangely Spoken RVA and Blue Bee Cider for our monthly open mic poetry night where poets, storytellers and listeners alike come together for a night of creativity, inspiration and community. The Strangely Spoken x Blue Bee Cider open mic poetry night is a place for honest voices and attentive ears.
Sign ups start at 6:30pm!
Seating is first come, first served.
Live In Da Garden Open Mic
Cost: $10
Doors: 7pm | Show 8pm
Sunflower Mo and Ricky Love hosts Live in the Garden Open Mic
"How'd They Do That?" with Nate Waggoner
Cost: $200
4 Thursdays: 9/17, 9/24, 10/1, and 10/8
Push out of your comfort zone and get inspired to write more creative fiction by looking at different types of stories with an open mind. Inspired writings may be shared, or not, in the spirit of having accomplished writing something – not a workshop or critique.
Richmond-based writer and educator Nate Waggoner brings his signature lighthearted approach to the creative process.
Doug Mercado on Global Humanitarian Aid
Cost: Free
Doug Mercado joins RVA Mag's Landon Shroder in conversation about the global humanitarian system, the USA's role, and what we can do going forward.
Poetry Slam Sundays hosted by Moeflows
Cost: $10
Doors: 6pm | Show: 7 pm
The Writer’s Den’s hosts it’s Open Mic Night at Resist Booksellers in Petersburg every second Sunday. Hosted by Moeflows and featuring Sunflower Mo.
All art forms are welcome! Spoken Word, music, dance, comendy, whatever moves you.
The Heart of Our Home with Janelle Washington
Cost: Free
This author-illustrator debut from Caldecott honor-winning creator Janelle Washington is a timeless ode to one family's kitchen table: stained, scratched, and full of love.
Jon Kukla at Tuckahoe Library
Cost: Free
An authoritative biography of founding father Patrick Henry that restores him to his important place in our history and explains the formative influence on his thought and character of Virginia, where he lived all his life.
A New Sentience Reading
Cost: Free
Source
Celebrate the new anthology A New Sentience: Reimagining Animal Poetry, co-edited by local poet, Allison Titus with a reading of poems from the book at the new Richmond Animal Care and Control space at 2310 W. Cary. 6:30 p.m.!
Local poets, Devon Walker- Figueroa, Medusa Was Black, Sunflower Mo, Jeff Strange and Richmond Co-Poet Laureate, Rosa Castellano.
This in-person reading will be followed by an open mic, so bring a poem that celebrates animal life to share!
Reading and Book Signing: A. Van Jordan and Dr. Ravynn K. Stringfield
Cost: Free
A. Van Jordan and Dr. Ravynn K. Stringfield will host a live reading, audience Q&A, and book signing at Shelf Life Books.
This literary event arrives ahead of a historic dual milestone: September 12, 2026 is the 50th anniversary of the passing of MacNolia Cox—the first African American finalist in the National Spelling Bee—and the 5th anniversary of the Senate resolution honoring her legacy. Cox's life is the central subject of Jordan's award-winning poetry collection, M-A-C-N-O-L-I-A.
Read Good Book featuring Michael Joseph Walsh
Cost: Free
Michael Joseph Walsh visits from Philadelphia to read from his Georgia Poetry Prize-winning book, A Season. He will be joined by Jimin Seo and Allison Titus. READ GOOD BOOK is a new poetry reading series hosted by Steve Minnich.