The Poe Museum

August 2026 Party Like It's 1996 w/ WNRN UnHappy Hour
2026-08-27 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 August UnHappy Hour on Thursday, August 27th.

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

Short Story Club
2026-09-09 18:00 - 18:45, 2026-10-14 18:00 - 18:45, 2026-11-11 18:00 - 18:45, 2027-01-13 18:00 - 18:45, 2027-03-10 18:00 - 18:45, 2027-05-12 18:00 - 18:45, 2027-07-14 18:00 - 18:45, 2027-09-08 18:00 - 18:45 and 13 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-6:45pm–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.

Tell-Tale Talks Featuring: Lyndsay Faye
2026-09-17 17:30 - 19:00 | Poe Museum’s Enchanted Garden, 1914 E Main St, Richmond VA, Virginia, 23223, United States
Join us at The Poe Museum on Thursday, September 17th for a Tell-Tale Talk with author Lyndsay Faye, who will discuss her upcoming novel, RAVEN, to be released in October.

About RAVEN:

An orphaned young woman in antebellum Maryland is pulled into a maelstrom of passion, pain, and occult power in this Gothic homage to the life and works of Edgar Allan Poe.

I died a fortnight ago this coming Thursday. It was a terrifically unpleasant experience—being murdered, I mean to say.

Raven Helen Allan has always been haunted by witchcraft. Since the death of her beloved mother, she has soothed herself by speaking words into spells—a proclivity enhanced by time spent with her aunt’s library of occult books. She also finds a self-destructive solace in transmuting the pain in her heart onto her flesh.

After an itinerant childhood spent first with her mother’s traveling theater troupe and then being passed around from relative to relative, Raven is relieved to finally settle down with Aunt Berenice in her Baltimore townhouse—even if her aunt spends most evenings in a laudanum haze. There she finds a long-sought sense of belonging with the family of enslaved workers in her aunt’s household, especially the brilliantly odd youngest daughter Pym. Raven’s infatuation with her friend only grows more intimate as the girls become women together. But when the household is threatened with financial ruin, Raven must set out to earn her own living.

Taking a job as a paid companion, Raven arrives at the crumbling Moldavia Manor. Her charge is a delicate young invalid named Lenore Legrand who haunts the Gothic structure like a phantom. Living with them is Lenore’s devoted older cousin Travanion, who shares Raven’s interest in the occult and devotes his days to searching ancient texts for an Elixir of Life that might cure his cousin. Raven finds herself inexorably drawn to both cousins as well as to the secrets hidden in the shadows of Moldavia Manor. Will she find the answers she seeks in Trevanion’s alchemical texts? What is the meaning of glowing green light emitted from the tower windows? And is Raven truly narrating this story from beyond the grave—if so, who murdered her?

Gothic and atmospheric, Raven is an aching tale of loss, freedom, death, and resurrection by the celebrated author of Jane Steele and Dust and Shadow.

—

Lyndsay Faye is the internationally bestselling author of eight critically acclaimed novels and two short story collections. She has been published in fifteen languages, nominated for two Edgar Awards, and received an American Library Association award for Best Historical Novel. A notable writer of Sherlock Holmes pastiches including Dust and Shadow and Observations by Gaslight, she also particularly enjoys upending classical literature, as in Jane Steele, which transforms Jane Eyre into a feminist serial killer. A true New Yorker in the sense that she was born elsewhere, Faye lives in Queens with her husband Nicholas and her cat Prufrock.

General Event Information:

SCHEDULE:

5:30 PM – Doors open

5:45 PM – Zoom meeting opens

6:00 PM – Talk begins

VIRTUAL LIVESTREAMS:

Virtual ticket holders will be sent a Zoom webinar link for the livestream the day of the event. The Zoom invitation is also included in the confirmation email received upon purchase.

WEATHER:This event takes place outdoors. Please dress according to the weather forecast. In case of inclement weather, an alternate location may be announced.

FOOD & DRINK:One glass of wine included in in-person admission. Complimentary snacks and refreshments available.

PARKING:The Poe Museum has a small gravel lot attached on 20th and Main Streets. If the lot is full, there is street parking available on surrounding streets.

OTHER:

Chairs provided. Exhibits remain open to explore before or after the talk.

—

Reserve your tickets below!

Thank you to Fountain Bookstore, who will sell books after the talk.

Can’t make it in person? The talk can be streamed virtually! Select the Livestream ticket option at check out. Virtual ticket holders will be sent a Zoom webinar link for the livestream the day of the event.

September 2026 Cabaret 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
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.

—

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.

General Event Information:

SCHEDULE:

5:30 PM – Doors open

5:45 PM – Zoom meeting opens

6:00 PM – Talk begins

VIRTUAL LIVESTREAMS:

Virtual ticket holders will be sent a Zoom webinar link for the livestream the day of the event. The Zoom invitation is also included in the confirmation email received upon purchase.

WEATHER:This event takes place outdoors. Please dress according to the weather forecast. In case of inclement weather, an alternate location may be announced.

FOOD & DRINK:One glass of wine included in in-person admission. Complimentary snacks and refreshments available.

PARKING:The Poe Museum has a small gravel lot attached on 20th and Main Streets. If the lot is full, there is street parking available on surrounding streets.

OTHER:

Chairs provided. Exhibits remain open to explore before or after the talk.

Reserve your tickets below!

Can’t make it in person? The talk can be streamed virtually! Select the Livestream ticket option at check out. Virtual ticket holders will be sent a Zoom webinar link for the livestream the day of the event.

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 Halloween UnHappy Hour
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.

Tell-Tale Talks Featuring: Diana Peterfreund
2026-11-18 17:30 - 19:00 | Fountain Bookstore, 1312 E Cary St, Richmond, Virginia, 23219, United States
Join us at Fountain Bookstore on Wednesday, November 18th for a Tell-Tale Talk with author Diana Peterfreund, who will discuss her YA series: Ellen Poe.

About Ellen Poe: For Evermore

The thrilling sequel to Ellen Poe: The Forgotten Lore in which every mystery Ellen solves uncovers another buried secret about her family and the infamous poet, Edgar Allan Poe.

Ellen Poe is no longer plagued by nightmares of scary restless spirits, and she’s even come to a truce with the oft-annoying ghost of her ancestor: Edgar Allan Poe. But when the coded journal that is tied to his spirit disappears from her family’s home, she’s convinced that the founder of a secret Poe society is responsible for the theft. Ellen finds a cryptic note from the woman, Sara High, and sets out on a dangerous quest to track down the family heirloom that takes Ellen from Baltimore to New York City to Richmond and back. At the same time, Ellen’s visions return, more terrifying than ever, and she realizes it’s not just the journal that’s in danger. Can she head off a potential murder in time? Or will Ellen find herself at the mercy of a killer who won’t stop until they’ve claimed Poe’s spirit for their very own?

—

DIANA PETERFREUND has published sixteen novels for adults, teens, and kids. Her works have been named to the New York Public Library’s Books for the Teen Age list, the Capitol Choices reading list, the Texas LoneStar List, and the Sunshine State Young Reader Awards List, as well as Amazon’s Best Books of the Year. In addition, she’s written dozens of short stories and a variety of nonfiction essays about popular children’s literature. Diana lives in Maryland with her family.

General Event Information:

SCHEDULE:

5:30 PM – Doors open

5:45 PM – Zoom meeting opens

6:00 PM – Talk begins

VIRTUAL LIVESTREAMS:

Virtual ticket holders will be sent a Zoom webinar link for the livestream the day of the event. The Zoom invitation is also included in the confirmation email received upon purchase.

WEATHER:This installment takes place indoors at Fountain Bookstore.

FOOD & DRINK:One glass of wine included in in-person admission.

OTHER:

Chairs provided.

—

Reserve your tickets below!

Can’t make it in person? The talk can be streamed virtually! Select the Livestream ticket option at check out. Virtual ticket holders will be sent a Zoom webinar link for the livestream the day of the event.

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.
