VIRGINIA LITERATURE

Everything We Did Was A Bad Idea

Everything We Did Was A Bad Idea

Editor's Note: Writer's Block is a space for Virginia writers to share personal essays, fiction, memoir, and works that fall somewhere in between. We’re standing on some corner in downtown Richmond: me, my two friends, a pair of women, and their male friend we had met...




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Review | Little Bear Ridge Road is an Artistic Gut Punch

Little Bear Ridge Road, does something you rarely see in popular media these days. It reminisces on the period during and just after Covid. Somehow, collectively, we’ve silently agreed to just not talk about it anymore. We don’t want to relive it on TV, in books, or...

Richmond’s Famous Romantix Mural Gets a New Chapter

For a decade, the mural outside the Romantix adult store, formerly Taboo, on Midlothian Turnpike has been one of Richmond's most debated pieces of public art. Now it's gone, replaced by a new collaboration between tattoo artist and muralist Jesse Smith and Miami-based...

Can Firehouse Put Richmond on the National Theatre Map?

In the electric and perpetually sincere terrain of Richmond’s theatre culture, there are institutions that do more than merely reside, they lead. They serve as a measure of our city's potential beyond its natural aspirations. I've witnessed Firehouse Theatre inhabit...

Photos | Warriors in Bloom at Agecroft Hall

For one weekend, Agecroft Hall stopped being a museum and became a kingdom.  What began as a fundraiser to help launch Richmond's first Renaissance Faire has grown into a destination of its own. Warriors in Bloom, created by the folks at Virago Alley, returned with...

Everything We Did Was A Bad Idea

Editor's Note: Writer's Block is a space for Virginia writers to share personal essays, fiction, memoir, and works that fall somewhere in between. We’re standing on some corner in downtown Richmond: me, my two friends, a pair of women, and their male friend we had met...

Review | SAFETY! Swings Big But Falls Just Short

WARNING: This review contains baseball metaphors.  Cadence Theatre’s Pipeline New Works Program is at the plate again, with its last batter, Witchduck, staring at home from third base. It is literally the first swing ever for the new musical, SAFETY!, at Firehouse...

Writer’s Block | Atmospheric Dread by Ann Marie

A Sunday series from RVA Magazine featuring writers from Richmond and VirginiaWriter’s Block is RVA Magazine’s Sunday series highlighting contemporary writers working in Richmond and across the Commonwealth. Each week, we feature original poems, short stories, or essays. Just real voices writing right now. Atmospheric Dread by Richmond...

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Writers-Block_-Atmospheric-Dread-by-Kaylee-Walton_Katie-Moum-RVA-Magazine-2026

Writer’s Block | On Our Backs in the Caribbean

Writer’s Block is RVA Magazine’s Sunday series highlighting contemporary writers working in Richmond and across the Commonwealth. We feature original poems, short stories, or essays. Just real voices writing right now. This week, we’re featuring a new story from Richmond writer Eric Kalata. In his first two pieces for RVA Magazine, Kalata...

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Story by Eric Kalata_RVA Magazine 2025

The Bully.

Or The First Time I Learned How Fear Works Ed. note: This memory came back to me in the middle of the night, and it felt connected to the way fear shapes people and systems right now. It’s just a moment from childhood that suddenly made a lot more sense as an adult. Every morning I rode the same bus to school, and every morning we had to deal...

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The Bully by R Anthony Harris_RVA Magazine 2025

Writer’s Block | The Poetry of Mary Beth Cox

Writer’s Block is RVA Magazine’s Sunday series highlighting contemporary writers working in Richmond and across the Commonwealth. Each week, we feature original poems, short stories, or essays. Just real voices writing right now. This week we’re featuring two poems by Mary Beth Cox, a former Peace Corps volunteer (1999-2001, Togo) living in...

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Poems-by-Mary-Beth-Cox_photo-Jasmin-Ne_RVA-Magazine-2025

Diamonds Aren’t Forever: Richmond Says Goodbye to The Diamond

Al Campanis was a scout for the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1950s and 1960s. He said the hair on his arms only stood up twice in his life. Once when he saw the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and the other time when he witnessed Sandy Koufax throw a fastball. Years later, baseball pundits called Koufax “The Left Arm of God,” and if God...

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Diamonds Aren't Forever by Ryan Kent_RVA Magazine 2025-01-2

Writer’s Block | Four Poems by Breanna Hoch

A Sunday series from RVA Magazine featuring writers from Richmond and Virginia Writer’s Block is RVA Magazine’s Sunday series highlighting contemporary writers working in Richmond and across the Commonwealth. Each week, we feature original poems, short stories, or essays. Just real voices writing right now. In this week’s collection, Breanna...

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Breanna-Hoch-poetry_RVA-Magazine-2025

Writer’s Block | Hotel Gaslight — Two Pieces by Robert Hoekman Jr.

A Sunday series from RVA Magazine featuring writers from Richmond and Virginia Writer’s Block is RVA Magazine’s Sunday series highlighting contemporary writers working in Richmond and across the Commonwealth. Each week, we feature original poems, short stories, or essays. Just real voices writing right now. This week, we’re featuring two...

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Stories-by-Robert-Hoekman-Jr_cover-art-for-Mend-by-PSYCHOSIS_Richmodn-VA_RVA-Magazine-2025

Writer’s Block | Poems by Kaylee Walton

A Sunday series from RVA Magazine featuring writers from Richmond and VirginiaWriter’s Block is RVA Magazine’s Sunday series highlighting contemporary writers working in Richmond and across the Commonwealth. Each week, we feature original poems, short stories, or essays. Just real voices writing right now. This week, we’re featuring a...

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Kaylee Walton poems_photo by Sara-Kurfess RVA MAgazine 2025