Lisa Beech Hartz founded Seven Cities Writers Project in 2014 to bring cost free creative writing and literacy programs to underserved communities. She has guided writing workshops at the Norfolk City Jail and the LGBT Life Center in Norfolk. She has also guided Resistance & Resilience: A Memoir Workshop of the Jim Crow Era.

A poet, Lisa is the author of The Goldfish WIndow (Grayson Books/2018), These Kismets (CutBank Books/2025), Bold, Marvelous (forthcoming/Grayson Books), and The Body Taken (forthcoming/UMass Press). Lisa’s poems, largely about visual art and artists, can be found in many literary journals.

A Virginia Commission for the Arts Teaching Artist, Lisa holds master’s degrees from Hollins University (M.A., English Writing) and the University of Miami (M.F.A., Creative Writing). She has lead community writing workshops and taught classes in writing for over 25 years. She lives in Portsmouth with her husband and family.

Norfolk City Jail