
Two Newbery Authors Join 2023 Festival
Join Andrea Beatriz Arango, author of Iveliz Explains It All, and Meg Medina, the New York Times bestselling author of Merci Suárez Plays It Cool on Saturday, March 25th at 12:30.

Giving New Life to Traditional Sephardic Songs
In this impact story, learn how Virginia Folklife mentor and apprentice artists Susan Gaeta and Gina Sobel are infusing traditional Sephardic music with new influences.

Building Brotherhood
Gay men’s choruses have a rich history that stretches back to San Francisco in the 1970’s.

Ask A Punk for the Address
When the pandemic shut down the opportunity to experience live music, I was hit hard. I started going to shows when I was fifteen. (Once, my mom dropped me off …

Margarita “Tata” Sanchez Cepeda & Isha M Renta Lopez
Bomba Dance Bomba is, as Margarita “Tata” Sanchez Cepeda puts it, “all about love. I was taught under love, bomba is a form of love, and we continue to carry …

The Visitor’s Center
In the summer of 1982, a group of six paraplegic men set out to climb the highest natural peak in Dallas, Texas. Sometimes carrying their wheelchairs up the Guadalupe Peak, they made it. Perri Meldon is working on a disability handbook that tells these stories and more.

Ms. Johns Goes to Washington
Barbara Johns is one step closer to Washington, D.C. A sculptor has been selected for the statue destined for the U.S. Capitol’s Statuary Hall. Learn more in the latest blog post from our Encyclopedia Virginia.

D. Brad Hatch, David Onks IV and Reagan Andersen
Four years ago, Dr. D. Brad Hatch was one of just two members of the Patawomeck Indian tribe who knew how to weave an eel pot. Now Brad is teaching fellow tribal members David Onks IV and Reagan Andersen how to make eel pots as part of the Virginia Folklife Program’s 2022-23 Apprenticeship Program cohort.

Same Page Community Reads & Featured VA Festival of the Book Author Announced
Ross Gay: The Book of Delights
We’re honored to again partner with Jefferson-Madison Regional Library as part of their Same Page Community Read initiative. This year, JMRL has chosen to feature Ross Gay’s The Book of Delights. …

Red-Hot Consequences
City temperatures transcend climate change and reach deep into some of our nation’s most troublesome history.

Baking by Ear
In the mid-20th century, American women were bombarded with tips, tricks, and goods to help them become the perfect housewife. Laura Puaca has studied four records released by General Mills that featured Betty Crocker “talking recipes.” They were developed in response to and in collaboration with blind homemakers and they extended to blind women choices that had long been an option for their non-disabled counterparts.