Our Projects

Seven Cities Writers Project brings creative writing and literacy support programs to in city jails, Black history museums, and LGBT community centers. We are always looking for new communities to serve.

Norfolk City Jail 

Writing in the Jails

Our Norfolk City and Portsmouth City Jail Projects serve men and women in 8 to 12 week sessions and are ongoing.

Once a week, our project guide meets with a group of up to 12 participants who write in response to provided prompts and share their work in an environment designed to support and inspire.

7CWP publishes poetry and prose generated in these workshops on our blog: sevencitieswriters.wordpress.com

Programs like these have been shown to reduce recidivism, and the Norfolk and Portsmouth Sheriff’s offices actively support our efforts.

YourStory: A Memoir Workshop of the LGBTQ+ Community

A memoir workshop held at the Norfolk LGBT Life Center that maintains a safe & supportive environment in which participants of all levels of experience are invited to share their stories.

Tidewater Youth Services

Write Where You Are

In this Saturday afternoon program, we meet at the Oceanfront Area Virginia Beach Public Library with boys & girls residing in the Crisis residential program run by Tidewater Youth Services. We introduce out participants to creative writing through ekphrastic poetry exercises, short readings, and fun writing prompts. Participants are inspired to express themselves in a safe and supportive environment.

Colored Community Library Museum, Portsmouth

Resistance and Resilience: A Memoir Workshop of the Jim Crow Era

In this memoir writing workshop, we draw out and collect the stories of the local response to life under the oppressive system, legal and social, known as Jim Crow. How did individuals, their families, and their community cope with the daily pressures and challenges of this system?

What lessons of resistance and resilience can be shared with younger generations for whom the struggle is not over?

Guided by a writer deeply committed to collecting and archiving this unique history, participants write in response to prompts, visual and literary.