
Poetry for Today: Readings by Victoria Chang and Rita Dove
In partnership with the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards and as the closing event for the 2022 Virginia Festival of the Book, we present poets Victoria Chang (Obit) and Rita Dove (Playlist …

Southern Landscapes: Real and Imagined
Authors Ralph Eubanks (A Place Like Mississippi), Jocelyn Nicole Johnson (My Monticello), and Imani Perry (South to America) take center stage at this Festival headliner event to discuss the storied …

NBF Presents: An Afternoon with the National Book Awards
2021 National Book Award–honored authors Robert Jones, Jr. (The Prophets, Finalist, Fiction), Amber McBride (Me (Moth), Finalist, Young People’s Literature), and Jason Mott (Hell of a Book, Winner, Fiction) join us for …

Thrillers for a Wild Ride
Authors Yasmin Angoe (Her Name is Knight), S.A. Cosby (Razorblade Tears), and Vera Kurian (Never Saw Me Coming) share their highly-acclaimed thrilling tales of two identities, two lost lives, and …

Portraits of Racial Justice: A Conversation with Robert Shetterly
Robert Shetterly, author of (Portraits of Racial Justice: Americans Who Tell the Truth) discusses his comprehensive, multimedia collection of portraits addressing America’s history of social, environmental, and economic injustices, in …

Fighting for Justice: When our institutions do not serve
Authors Benjamin Gilmer (The Other Dr. Gilmer) and Chip Jones (The Organ Thieves) explore true stories at the intersection of the medical world and the legal world. Chronicling failures of …

To Reimagine Time: Historical Fantasy
Natashia Deón (The Perishing), Nicole Glover (The Undertakers), and Shelley Parker-Chan (She Who Became the Sun) discuss their historical fantasy novels, each of which incorporate the magical or fantastic as …

Secrets, Sisters, and Spies
Join authors Kellye Garrett (Like a Sister), Naomi Hirahara (Clark and Division), and Alma Katsu (Red Widow), as they share their highly-acclaimed, new mysteries offering keen explorations of sisterhood, both …

My Monticello with Jocelyn Nicole Johnson
Jocelyn Nicole Johnson (My Monticello) discusses her debut book, a collection of short stories and the eponymous novella, exploring burdened inheritances and extraordinary pursuits of belonging. United by Johnson’s characters’ …

Accidental Gods: Mysticism & Faith in Literary Fiction
Curdella Forbes (A Tall History of Sugar) and SJ Sindu (Blue-Skinned Gods) discuss their latest novels, exploring ideas of face value and faith, love and relationships, and the occasionally mystical …

Eyewitness to the Past
Writers Anneliese Bruner (great-granddaughter to the author of The Nation Must Awake), Gayle Jessup White (Reclamation), and Steve Majors (High Yella) share their histories and life stories, offering a close …

Sights & Sounds: Visual Poetry
Poets David Campos (American Quasar), Naoko Fujimoto (Glyph), and Aurielle Marie (Gumbo Ya Ya) employ not only the written word but also a visual vocabulary in their work. Linking text …