The Poe Museum

May 2026 UnHappy Hour
2026-05-28 18:00 - 21:00 (America/New_York) | Poe Museum’s Enchanted Garden, 1914 E Main St, Richmond VA, Virginia, 23223, United States
Join us for the May UnHappy Hour on Thursday, May 28th.

Please check back in early May for more details and to reserve tickets.

June 2026 UnHappy Hour: PRIDE
2026-06-25 18:00 - 21:00 | Poe Museum’s Enchanted Garden, 1914 E Main St, Richmond VA, Virginia, 23223, United States
Join us for a special Pride UnHappy Hour on Thursday, June 25th.

Please check back in early June for more details and to reserve tickets.

Know Your Poe: Poe and the Presidents
2026-07-01 18:00 - 19:00
Join the Poe Museum for our “Know Your Poe” series, an evening program hosted quarterly that explores Edgar Allan Poe’s life through various thematic lenses. This series offers Poe-enthusiasts across the world to connect with the Poe Museum, literary scholars, and each other in hopes of gaining a deeper understanding of one of America’s most influential literary figures.

This 45-minute evening program is hosted on Zoom. The Zoom link will be sent to your email the day before the scheduled program.

Poe and the Presidents: Explore how Poe’s connections to the presidents who served throughout his lifetime.

RSVP Required.

Short Story Club
2026-07-08 18:00 - 18:30, 2026-09-09 18:00 - 18:30, 2026-10-14 18:00 - 18:30, 2026-11-11 18:00 - 18:30, 2027-01-13 18:00 - 18:30, 2027-03-10 18:00 - 18:30, 2027-05-12 18:00 - 18:30, 2027-07-14 18:00 - 18:30 and 11 more dates
Join the Poe Museum for our virtual Short Story Club, a low-commitment literary gathering designed for the busy reader who may not be able to commit to reading a new book every month. Our Short Story Club meets once a month on Tuesdays on Zoom from 6:00pm-6:30pm–a perfect chance to unwind midweek, connect with fellow literature lovers, and enjoy new reads—all without ever leaving your living room. Each meeting we will explore one Poe short story paired with a complementary piece by another author.

Bring a friend, pour a drink, grab a blanket, and settle in for half-hour of literary discussions!

March

Berenice — Edgar Allan Poe, 1835

The Yellow Wallpaper — Charlotte Perkins Gilman, 1892

May

Island of the Fay — Edgar Allan Poe, 1841

The Five Boons of Life — Mark Twain, 1902

July

Spectacles — Edgar Allan Poe, 1844

The Necklace — Guy de Maupassant, 1884

September

The Imp of the Perverse — Edgar Allan Poe, 1845

The Horla — Guy de Maupassant, 1887

October

The Case of M. Valdemar — Edgar Allan Poe, 1845

The Monkey’s Paw — W.W. Jacobs, 1902

November

Man of the Crowd — Edgar Allan Poe, 1840

The Hanging Stranger — Philip K. Dick, 1953

Registration required.

July 2026 UnHappy Hour
2026-07-23 18:00 - 21:00 | Poe Museum’s Enchanted Garden, 1914 E Main St, Richmond VA, Virginia, 23223, United States
Join us for the July UnHappy Hour on Thursday, July 23rd.

Please check back in early July for more details and to reserve tickets.

August 2026 UnHappy Hour
2026-08-27 18:00 - 21:00 | Poe Museum’s Enchanted Garden, 1914 E Main St, Richmond VA, Virginia, 23223, United States
Join us for the August UnHappy Hour on Thursday, August 27th.

Please check back in early August for more details and to reserve tickets.

September 2026 UnHappy Hour
2026-09-24 18:00 - 21:00 | Poe Museum’s Enchanted Garden, 1914 E Main St, Richmond VA, Virginia, 23223, United States
Join us for the September UnHappy Hour on Thursday, September 24th.

Please check back in early September for more details and to reserve tickets.

Tell-Tale Talks Featuring: Emily Ogden
2026-10-01 17:30 - 19:00 | Poe Museum’s Enchanted Garden, 1914 E Main St, Richmond VA, Virginia, 23223, United States
Please check back in late September to reserve tickets.

Join us at The Poe Museum on Thursday, October 1st for a Tell-Tale Talk with author and professor Emily Ogden, who will discuss her newest work, Darkness Becomes Bright: On the Brief Life and Immortal Art of Edgar Allan Poe.

About Darkness Becomes Bright:

A fascinating and intimate inquiry into the shadowy life and horrifyingly compelling work of Edgar Allan Poe, and why we are drawn to darkness in art

Since Edgar Allan Poe’s mysterious death in 1849, his stories and poems have captivated millions of readers around the world. One hundred seventy-five years later, why do we continue to descend into the darkness of his imagination—and of the genres, from horror to crime, that he pioneered?

In these spellbinding and singular book, Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grant winner Emily Ogden plumbs the darkness within Poe and enters it alongside him. She interweaves stories from his mysterious and tragic life—from his strange disappearances and tortured romances to his nearly fatal use of opium—with those of his most famous readers and translators, including poet Charles Baudelaire, writer Julio Cortázar, and psychoanalyst Marie Bonaparte, a descendant of Napoleon and a patient of Sigmund Freud.

Tracing their passionate attachments to Poe and Ogden’s own—unexpectedly sparked when she taught an introductory Poe course at the University of Virginia, where Poe himself was once a student—Darkness Becomes Bright makes a different case for literature from the one we most often hear (that it engenders empathy). This exquisite volume shows how Poe’s vision and its echoes across the generations allows us to make peace with our own flawed humanity.

About Emily Ogden:

Emily Ogden is the author of On Not Knowing: How to Love and Other Essays (2022) and Credulity: A Cultural History of US Mesmerism (2018). Her writing has appeared in The Yale Review, Critical Inquiry, The New York Times, American Literature, the LA Review of Books Quarterly Journal, The Point, and Berfrois, among other publications. The recipient of a Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grant and a Mellon Fellowship in the Columbia Society of Fellows, she is Professor of English at the University of Virginia.

Edgar's Enchanted Garden Family Day
2026-10-10 10:00 - 13:00 | The Poe Museum, 1914 E Main Street, Richmond, Virginia, 23059, United States
Celebrate National Poetry Month! Join us on Saturday, April 4th from 10:00am-12:00pm for an enchanted morning of nature poetry, crafts, and programming brought to you by The Poe Museum.

We will be joined by our community partner, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. Check out their website for your child to receive free books!

Our next Enchanted Garden will be on October 11th from 10:00am-1:00pm.

RSVP

Know Your Poe: Poe and Illness
2026-10-21 18:00 - 19:00
Join the Poe Museum for our “Know Your Poe” series, an evening program hosted quarterly that explores Edgar Allan Poe’s life through various thematic lenses. This series offers Poe-enthusiasts across the world to connect with the Poe Museum, literary scholars, and each other in hopes of gaining a deeper understanding of one of America’s most influential literary figures.

This 45-minute evening program is hosted on Zoom. The Zoom link will be sent to your email the day before the scheduled program.

Poe and Illness: Explore how both mental and physical illness influenced Poe, his literature, and those he loved.

RSVP Required.

October 2026 UnHappy Hour: HALLOWEEN
2026-10-22 18:00 - 21:00 | Poe Museum’s Enchanted Garden, 1914 E Main St, Richmond VA, Virginia, 23223, United States
Join us for one of our most-highly anticipated events of the year, the Halloween UnHappy Hour, on Thursday, October 22nd!

Please check back in early October for more details and to reserve tickets.

Know Your Poe: Eliza Poe and the Richmond Theater Fire
2026-12-09 18:00 - 19:00
Join the Poe Museum for our “Know Your Poe” series, an evening program hosted quarterly that explores Edgar Allan Poe’s life through various thematic lenses. This series offers Poe-enthusiasts across the world to connect with the Poe Museum, literary scholars, and each other in hopes of gaining a deeper understanding of one of America’s most influential literary figures.

This 45-minute evening program is hosted on Zoom. The Zoom link will be sent to your email the day before the scheduled program.

Eliza Poe and the Richmond Theater Fire: Explore the life of Poe’s mother, Eliza Poe, and the tragedy of the largest urban disaster: The Richmond Theater Fire

RSVP Required.
