About Unbound Authors

Unbound Authors is where stories break free — and where literacy becomes liberation. We are a nonprofit storytelling and literacy initiative dedicated to supporting incarcerated writers across Colorado, empowering them as knowledge keepers, artists, and narrators of their own lives.

Founded in 2023 by Dr. Libby Catchings, a prison literacy scholar and educator, and JoyBelle Phelan, a writer and returning citizen whose own voice was reclaimed through the written word, Unbound Authors is the only dedicated writing center operating inside Colorado correctional facilities. Our approach bridges creative writing, peer mentoring, and critical literacy development — meeting writers wherever they are in their journey and helping them grow their confidence, craft, and community.

Now active in ten correctional facilities, our in-person Writers Mentoring Labs offer space for reflection, revision, and real human connection. We also provide feedback and encouragement to incarcerated writers in facilities where we don’t yet offer in-person programming. Everything we do is driven by the belief that literacy is not just a skill — it’s a tool for transformation.

In 2025, we’re launching our first Unbound Anthology and relaunching a statewide prison newspaper in collaboration with Pollen Initiative — a nonprofit that cultivates media centers inside prisons and equips system-impacted individuals to be community journalists and the prism into their own narratives.

Every donation brings essential supplies like paper, postage, and pens into the hands of writers who are often denied access to creative tools. But more than that, it fuels a movement — one that builds literacy, reduces recidivism, and reshapes public understanding of who is a writer and what stories deserve to be told.

We are building a literary ecosystem behind the walls — one that honors voice, nurtures growth, and believes in second (and third, and tenth) chances. Join us in writing a new chapter.

Come for the stories. Stay for the change. 🌷✨

2025 Spring Storytelling Soiree

An evening of stories, sweets, and solidarity

Team Members