Unbound Authors

08/26/2026

We wanted to know something numbers alone can't tell us: not just how many people come to our writing labs, but what actually happens once they get there. So we surveyed 81 writers across 15 Colorado facilities, and the report is up on our site now. Every single person said they'd recommend it to someone else. One writer, Michael S., told us that getting real feedback on his work for the first time felt like "exactly how great writers are made." That's kind of the whole point.

08/20/2026

John, one of our writers, told us: "I realized I have something valuable to say that people want to read. I realized I don't just want to write, I need to." That's not a skill. That's a shift in how someone sees themselves. That's what we're actually building toward.

08/19/2026

A facilitator told us about a writer who was so shy at first he asked to go last. By the end, he read his work out loud anyway, and everyone in the room told him it was worth the wait. That's the moment we build every session around.

08/18/2026

Messenger Quarterly published its first issue in May, including work from 36 incarcerated contributors.

08/13/2026

One of our facilitators has been with the same small group of writers for months now, and says their confidence in their own poetry has grown the whole time, not from one big moment, but from just showing up again and again. That's really what this program is built on.

08/12/2026

Our 2025 Annual Impact Report is here, and honestly, looking at the numbers together like this still catches me off guard. 332 sessions. 696 writers. Every single prison in Colorado now has some form of access to this program. This started as two friends trying to keep working with incarcerated writers in Colorado. Full report is on our website if you want to see everything we built together this year.

How storytelling, communication, and creative practice are building connection and possibility across Colorado correctional facilities.This page highlights our annual reports, media coverage, organizational milestones, and community impact.

08/06/2026

Adam, one of our writers, described what feedback does for him: "It pushes me to work harder and to objectively examine my work. I want to do better because someone cares enough to read and respond to my work." Someone caring enough to respond. That's the entire model in one sentence.

08/05/2026

One of our facilitators told us something we loved: two regulars showed up to a recent session and brought friends along, people who'd never been to a writing lab before. By the end of the hour, everyone had written and shared something. Word of mouth is still how most people find their way to us.

07/30/2026

One of our facilitators told us a session with fewer writers than usual turned out to be one of the warmest sessions they've run, everyone had time, everyone got real feedback. Sometimes a smaller room is a closer one.

07/29/2026

Big moment for Unbound Authors: the first issue of Messenger Quarterly is here! Our newspaper is written entirely by incarcerated writers across Colorado, and this issue represents months of work, editing, and persistence. So proud of every writer who contributed. You can read it here:

Mercury Mountain Media is the publishing imprint of Unbound Authors, featuring journalism, storytelling, commentary, art, and lived experience from inside Colorado prisons and beyond.