Richmond Poetry Fest
Richmond Poetry Fest: April 10 + 11, 2026
Save the dates for the 4th annual Richmond Poetry Fest at VisArts!
Get excited for performances by Remica Bingham-Risher, Martheaus Perkins, Joanna Lee, Monica Prince, Devon Walker-Figueroa, Roscoe Burnems, Fairouz Bsharat, Dreia Burton, Benji Wilson, and more.
Full schedule and vendor list coming soon.
Pre-Fest Workshops
April is National Poetry Month, and we’re celebrating by hosting pay-what-you-will poetry workshops for writers of all experience levels. Featuring a variety of topics and styles, you can sign up for a workshop online, at VisArts, or at a local branch of the Richmond Public Library.
Registration is now open! Save your spot in a Pre-Fest Workshop today:
Community Readings
Share your poems as part of the all-day Community Poetry Reading on Sat, April 11 from 11am—4pm, with a break at 1pm to hear from the incredible Remica Bingham Risher. Each reader will have 5 minutes to shine.
Thanks to the Carole Weinstein Endowment for Creative Writing, these workshops—which would otherwise cost $50 per person—are completely free. If you enjoy Poetry Fest programming, please consider donating to VisArts when enrolling in a workshop.
About Richmond Poetry Fest
Richmond Poetry Fest hosted by the Visual Arts Center of Richmond is an event co-created by VisArts staff and a group of former and current writers-in-residence. A celebration of poetry and community, Richmond Poetry Fest features readings, workshops, activities for poets and artists of all ages, and local vendors. Richmond Poetry Fest is a free community event supported by the Carole Weinstein Endowment for Creative Writing.
About the Writing Program
The VisArts Writing Program offers classes as diverse and vibrant as our student population with coursework for writers at all stages, from beginner to advanced. Classes cover a range of creative writing topics from poetry to fiction to memoir to screenwriting and are offered in flexible formats from short weekend workshops to 8-week classes. Thanks to VisArts diverse programming and studios, we have the unique ability to combine visual arts and writing to offer classes that can be welcoming to both writers and visual artists, like Sewetry, Embroidered poems—a class combining poetry and embroidery. We’re proud of the long history of writing classes at VisArts and that we’ve grown to be a hub for writers wishing to learn and practice their craft.