A Conversation with David Brooks

Date: Monday, Sep 28, 2026

Join VCU's College of Humanities and Sciences Baldacci Institute and the Library of Virginia for an evening with author and political commentator David Brooks.

2026 Levis Reading Prize

Date: Thursday, Oct 29, 2026

Matthew Tuckner, the 2026 Levis Reading Prize winner, will read from his poetry collection The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.

2026 Cabell First Novelist Award

Date: Thursday, Nov 12, 2026

Olufunke Grace Bankole has won the 2026 VCU Cabell First Novelist Award, which honors an outstanding debut novel published during the preceding calendar year.

VCU Visiting Writers Series: Carvell Wallace

Date: Tuesday, Feb 16, 2027

The VCU Visiting Writers Series hosts a reading by acclaimed author Carvell Wallace . . .

The Blake Lecture in the History of Christianity

Date: Thursday, Apr 1, 2027

Save the date of April 1, 2027 for the annual Blake Lecture in the History of Christianity featuring Shaily Patel, Ph.D., an assistant professor of early Christianity in the Department of Religion and Culture at Virginia Tech.

Making Worlds, Repairing Worlds: What We Do with the Humanities

Date: Tuesday, Sep 8, 2026

Join us for an event with Maria Sachiko Cecire, program officer for Higher Learning at the Mellon Foundation.

Humanities Week Reception

Date: Tuesday, Sep 8, 2026

Join the HRC for a reception for Humanities Week!

Virginia at 250: Leadership, Democracy and the Future of the Commonwealth

Date: Tuesday, Sep 1, 2026

As the nation marks the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs and the College of Humanities and Sciences at Virginia Commonwealth University will convene a timely conversation about Virginia’s enduring influence on America.

Mary Oliver: Saved by the Beauty of the World

Date: Wednesday, Sep 9, 2026

Join the HRC and VCUarts for a screening of Mary Oliver: Saved by the Beauty of the World, including a Q&A with director Sasha Waters.

Black Freedom: Public Celebration and Commemoration as Practices of Remembrance and Repair

Date: Thursday, Sep 10, 2026

Join us for a keynote event with Blair LM Kelley, President and Director of the National Humanities Center.

Walking Tour with The Valentine Museum

Date: Friday, Sep 11, 2026

Join us for our final Humanities Week event of 2026: a walking tour with The Valentine!

Ned Blackhawk Lecture

Date: Friday, Oct 30, 2026

Join us for an event with Ned Blackhawk, Howard R. Lamar Professor of History at Yale University and author of The Rediscovery of America.

Racial Reconciliation and the Third Reconstruction A New Racial Justice Model

Date: Monday, Sep 14, 2026

Join the HRC for a Meet VCU Authors event with Rachel Gómez, Assistant Professor of Foundations of Education in the School of Education at VCU, and Julio Cammarota, Professor of Education at the University of Arizona, co-authors of Racial Reconciliation and the Third Reconstruction: A New Racial Justice Model.

Fear of Queer Taiwan: Anti-LGBTQ Movements between Taiwan and the U.S. Religious Right

Date: Monday, Oct 5, 2026

Join us for a Meet VCU Authors event with Ying-Chao Kao, Associate Professor and Graduate Program Director of Sociology at VCU, and author of Fear of Queer Taiwan: Anti-LGBTQ Movements between Taiwan and the U.S. Religious Right.

The Future of Our Past: A Conversation about Repair and Community Healing at the 25th Anniversary of 9/11

Date: Friday, Sep 18, 2026

Join the HRC for the first event in our Repair Speaker Series, featuring Lyndon Harris, forgiveness teacher and author of "Forgiveness at Ground Zero: A Journey of Service, Loss and Redemption After 9/11."

Larry Levis Tribute Event

Date: Wednesday, Oct 28, 2026

Nine poets each read a single Levis poem and offer brief remarks, together forming a portrait assembled in many voices.

UVA/VCU Joint Graduate Poetry Reading

Date: Friday, Oct 30, 2026

Graduate poets from the University of Virginia and VCU read new work written in Levis's wake.

“A Late Style of Fire” & Q&A with the filmmaker

Date: Friday, Oct 30, 2026

A screening of Michele Poulos's 2016 documentary “A Late Style of Fire: Larry Levis, American Poet,” with an original score by Iron & Wine, followed by a Q&A with the filmmaker.

A Conversation with Axios Senior Religion Reporter, Russell Contreras

Date: Tuesday, Sep 22, 2026

Russell Contreras, Senior Race and Justice reporter for Axios will be coming to VCU to talk about his career in journalism as a Hispanic Catholic.

Society of the Cincinnati Lecture featuring Kathleen DuVal, Ph.D.

Date: Tuesday, Oct 6, 2026

Join us October 6 for a lecture by Pulitzer Prize winning author and historian Kathleen DuVal, Ph.D., of UNC Chapel Hill.

Oy vey, King George!: Judaism and the War for Independence

Date: Monday, Nov 9, 2026

In his visit to the VCU campus, Adam Jortner will talk about the main points he writes about in his book, "A Promised Land: Jewish Patriots, the American Revolution, and the Birth of Religious Freedom."

Filippo Mazzei and the Birth of American Democracy

Date: Wednesday, Sep 9, 2026

Dr. Bernardo Piciché, associate professor in the Department of English, argues that "All men are created equal" belongs to a much older and broader intellectual tradition than most Americans assume.

Democracy's Newest Test: AI in Historical Perspective

Date: Monday, Oct 5, 2026

Is AI just the next disruptor in a long line of world-changing technologies, or is it something genuinely new? Dr. Jason Ross Arnold, professor and chair of the Department of Political Science, tackles the question.

Black Out Loud: A Conversation with Geoff Bennett

Date: Friday, Oct 9, 2026

Join us for a conversation with Geoff Bennett, co-anchor and co-managing editor of the PBS NewsHour. Bennett will discuss his book "Black Out Loud: The Revolutionary History of Black Comedy from Vaudeville to '90s Sitcoms."

Declarations: Black Americans and the Revolutionary War

Date: Tuesday, Oct 13, 2026

In partnership with the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs, the College of Humanities and Sciences presents a screening of the documentary “Declarations: Black Americans and the Revolutionary War” from VPM and director Stacey L. Holman.

Guided Tour of the Shockoe Institute

Date: Wednesday, Sep 9, 2026

Join the HRC for a guided tour of the Shockoe Institute, led by HRC Community Fellow Gregg Kimball.

After Jail, Before Freedom

Date: Monday, Sep 21, 2026

Join the Humanities Research Center for a Meet VCU Authors event with David Coogan, Associate Professor of English, and co-author of After Jail, Before Freedom.

Violence and the Impossibility of Repair

Date: Monday, Oct 26, 2026

Join the Humanities Research Center for an event in our Repair Speaker Series, featuring Dr. Laura Terrance, a Mohawk scholar, to discuss Indigenous sovereignty, Indigenous vengeance, and the productive potentials of anti-colonial violence.

Reform and Repair: Removing Blood Quantum from Tribal Citizenship Requirements

Date: Monday, Nov 2, 2026

Join the Humanities Research Center for an event in our Repair Speaker Series, featuring Dr. Jill Doerfler (Anishinaabe), Professor and Department Head of American Indian Studies at the University of Minnesota Duluth.

Inherited Hands, New Forms: Tradition and Modernity in Indigenous Art

Date: Monday, Oct 12, 2026

Join the HRC for an event with Erick Krigsvold, Pamunkey artist and former Karenne Wood Artist in Residence.

Pocahontas Reframed Film Festival 2026

Dates: Wednesday, Nov 18, 2026 – Sunday, Nov 22, 2026

The Humanities Research Center is proud to be part of the VCU team providing leadership support to Pocahontas Reframed Film Festival, celebrating its 10th anniversary this year.

Baby Doe Film Screening

Date: Wednesday, Sep 16, 2026

Join the VCU Department of Forensic Science for a film screening of Baby Doe, followed by a A Q&A with the director and a panel discussion of faculty experts.

Latino Virginia Oral History Community Celebration

Date: Wednesday, Sep 16, 2026

This community celebration brings together members of the Latino community of Richmond alongside the interviewees, collaborators, and community members who made the Latino Virginia project possible.