Lelia Contee, Contributing Writer
From page to stage, the Visual Arts Center of Richmond hosted its fourth annual Richmond Poetry Fest on Friday and Saturday.
The Visual Arts Center of Richmond, or VisArts, is a nonprofit organization that helps adults and children explore creativity and make art.
The festival featured a Parallel Listening series that blends live music and literary readings, “Book Club Breakfast,” the Young Voices of RVA, “Drag Queen Story Hour” and community poetry readings and performances, with American Sign Language interpretation provided.
“If people come to the poetry fest not being familiar with poetry they’ll realize how much they actually are familiar with poetry,” poet Joanna S. Lee said.
Lee was elected as Richmond’s second Poet Laureate in 2024, as a part of the city’s Poet Laureate Program that was launched in 2020.
The program highlights local artists and uses poetry to support the Richmond community.
Lee said a poet laureate mean being “a voice for the city,” where she engaged in readings, mayoral events and spoke with diverse audiences, including those not typically involved in Richmond’s art scene. Lee’s current project aims to collaborate with parks and departments to integrate poetry with the trails being built in the Richmond region.
“It’s really been a joy to see how the scene has grown,” Lee said. “People really do need to use their voices and they’re starting to realize it.”
Mayor Danny Avula announced the new Poet Laureates from 2026 to 2028 — Maurice “moeflowz” Brown and Rosa Castellano.
“Really, this is the kind of thing that lets people see what’s possible as a poet and as a writer in your community,” said poet Remica Bingham-Risher.
Bingham-Risher, an award-winning author, performed her newest work, “Room Swept Home,” at the festival. It is a book of poems that explores the lives of her two grandmothers in Petersburg, whose experiences spanned from slavery to the Vietnam War.
Poetry is best heard aloud than read on the page because it allows for dialogue and performance Bingham-Risher said.
“We’re trying to really help people understand that the way that you read poems certainly has bearing on the way that people understand and are drawn to your poems, whether they’re in a book or not,” Bingham-Risher said.
The evolution of poetry is reflected in the merge between its written and spoken forms, according to Bingham-Risher.
Poetry can connect people in ways that expands their understanding of poetry and other communities, drag queen Michelle Livigne said.
“Love, inspiration and smiles on their faces, I think that can connect us,” Livigne said.
Livigne was featured in “Drag Queen Story Hour”, a family-friendly event where she read poetry and storybooks, such as “The Giving Tree,” to children, and exchanged a few jokes
Livigne said she accepted the opportunity because she felt inspired to connect with people and create memorable moments. She hopes “Drag Queen Story Hour” can foster more openness by changing people’s views, outlooks and positions on various topics.
“As you experience a ‘Drag Queen Story Hour’, you might just treat a person that isn’t like you just differently than you would, maybe, normally treat,” Livigne said. “You treat them kindly or do something nice.”