Blue Opening with Chet'la Sebree

Schedule

Tue, 21 Oct, 2025 at 06:00 pm

UTC-04:00

Location

1307 E Cary St, Richmond, VA, United States, Virginia 23219 | Richmond, VA

Advertisement
We're thrilled to welcome Chet'la in conversation with local poet Anne Poarch in the store!
About the Book:
Blue Opening, Chet’la Sebree’s brilliant, illuminating poetry collection, grapples with origins—of illness, of language, of the universe—as the speaker contemplates whether she, too, can be a site of origin through motherhood. Navigating chronic health challenges alongside grief and questions about the nature of knowledge and religion, she searches personal history and the cosmos for answers to the unknowable.

With startling clarity and vivid tenderness, Blue Opening calls into question not only where to begin, but how to create, across thirty-two poems that press the fluid boundaries of form through sonnets, prose poems, odes, and two unforgettable poetic sequences. As the speaker traverses loss, possibility, and the choice, or often the lack of choice, in the direction of her future, she determines to press forward even as she is “unsure of what shape this language should take / and hulling, from blue rock, faith.”
About the Authors:
Chet'la Sebree is the author of Blue Opening, forthcoming from Tin House in September 2025. She is also the author of Field Study, winner of the 2020 James Laughlin Award from the Academy of American Poets, and Mistress, which was nominated for an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work-Poetry (2020). Her debut essay collection turn (w)here: a geography of home is forthcoming from The Dial Press in 2026.
Anne Poarch is the Director of Advancement for Capital Trees and a Richmond-based author and entrepreneur. Her two books of nature-based poetry, Flight: of butterflies and robins and other winged dreams (2017) and The Grit & Joy of Being (2019), were both published by local press Belle Isle Books, and round out a creative drive for authenticity and communing with our natural world. In 2016 Anne founded BASKET & BIKE, and in 2025 has introduced WANDER & WALK, leisurely bicycle and walking excursions in nature and along the avenues of Richmond.
Advertisement

Where is it happening?

1307 E Cary St, Richmond, VA, United States, Virginia 23219

Event Location & Nearby Stays:

Icon
Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.
Fountain Bookstore, Inc.

Host or Publisher Fountain Bookstore, Inc.

Ask AI if this event suits you:

Discover More Events in Richmond

Practical A.I. Roundtable
Tue, 21 Oct at 09:00 am Practical A.I. Roundtable

Quirk Hotel Richmond

SPORTS
Food Protection Manager Certification - Richmond
Tue, 21 Oct at 09:00 am Food Protection Manager Certification - Richmond

Commonwealth Autism

WORKSHOPS HEALTH-WELLNESS
Lead with Intelligence \u2013 1 Day AI-Augmented Leadership Session in Richmond
Tue, 21 Oct at 09:00 am Lead with Intelligence – 1 Day AI-Augmented Leadership Session in Richmond

regus VA, Richmond - Boulders Business Park (HQ)

WORKSHOPS ARTIFICIAL-INTELLIGENCE
Conversations with the Commonwealth: Domestic Violence Awareness
Tue, 21 Oct at 02:00 pm Conversations with the Commonwealth: Domestic Violence Awareness

VCU Health Hub at 25th

Tarot & Taproom
Tue, 21 Oct at 06:30 pm Tarot & Taproom

Benchtop Brewing - RVA (433 Hull Street, Richmond, VA)

TRIPS-ADVENTURES
Sacred Thresholds
Tue, 21 Oct at 06:30 pm Sacred Thresholds

HQ - The Sanctuary

The Sacred Threshold
Tue, 21 Oct at 06:30 pm The Sacred Threshold

HQ - The Sanctuary

Saint Motel
Tue, 21 Oct at 07:00 pm Saint Motel

The National - VA

TRIPS-ADVENTURES
Basic City Comedy (Free Open mic)
Wed, 10 Apr at 08:30 pm Basic City Comedy (Free Open mic)

Basic City Beer Co. Southside RVA

OPEN-MIC COMEDY
Powerful Voices Open Mic Show - Live Music, Comedy, Poetry+ More!
Thu, 02 Oct at 08:00 pm Powerful Voices Open Mic Show - Live Music, Comedy, Poetry+ More!

Richmond

ART MUSIC
Blue Opening with Chet'la Sebree
Tue, 21 Oct at 06:00 pm Blue Opening with Chet'la Sebree

1307 E Cary St, Richmond, VA, United States, Virginia 23219

ART LITERARY-ART
Words on Fire: Poetry Happy Hour at Firehouse
Wed, 29 Oct at 06:00 pm Words on Fire: Poetry Happy Hour at Firehouse

Firehouse Theatre

ART LITERARY-ART
Open Mic at The Camel Hosted by Warren Cambpell of Dead Billionaires
Wed, 29 Oct at 07:00 pm Open Mic at The Camel Hosted by Warren Cambpell of Dead Billionaires

1621 W Broad St, Richmond, VA, United States, Virginia 23220

OPEN-MIC
The Secret Sisters
Wed, 29 Oct at 08:00 pm The Secret Sisters

The Tin Pan

MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT
Wild at Heart
Thu, 30 Oct at 06:30 pm Wild at Heart

300 E Broad St, Richmond, VA, United States, Virginia 23219

ART LITERARY-ART
Spooky Bullsh*t Tours RVA - Open Mic
Thu, 30 Oct at 07:00 pm Spooky Bullsh*t Tours RVA - Open Mic

Liberty Public House

OPEN-MIC COMEDY
The Lab
Thu, 06 Nov at 07:30 pm The Lab

Coalition Theater

OPEN-MIC COMEDY
Game of Jokes, An Open Mic Comedy Competition at Starr Hill Beer Hall
Sat, 08 Nov at 07:00 pm Game of Jokes, An Open Mic Comedy Competition at Starr Hill Beer Hall

Starr Hill Beer Hall & Rooftop

OPEN-MIC COMEDY
Weinstein Author Series \u2013 Crystal Wilkinson | Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts
Thu, 13 Nov at 06:00 pm Weinstein Author Series – Crystal Wilkinson | Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts

800 East Broad Street, Richmond, VA, United States, Virginia 23219

ART LITERARY-ART
ECHOES OF THE UNSEEN (Saturday Evening)
Sat, 07 Feb at 07:00 pm ECHOES OF THE UNSEEN (Saturday Evening)

Marburg House

MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT

What's Happening Next in Richmond?

Discover Richmond Events