Authors Unbound

David Wojahn Unbound

David Wojahn is an acclaimed American poet, essayist, and educator whose work weaves personal memory with the larger currents of history and culture. Born in St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1953, he earned degrees from the University of Minnesota and the University of Arizona. His debut collection, Icehouse Lights, won the Yale Series of Younger Poets Award and the William Carlos Williams Award, launching a career marked by critical acclaim and emotional depth. His later works—Interrogation Palace, a Pulitzer Prize finalist, and World Tree, winner of the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize—cemented his reputation as one of America’s most powerful poetic voices. A recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the NEA, Wojahn is Professor Emeritus at Virginia Commonwealth University and teaches in the MFA program at the Vermont College of Fine Arts. This week on Authors Unbound, we talk with acclaimed poet and essayist David Wojahn about his new collection, Secret Addressee: Essays on How Poetry Matters, out this fall from Unbound Edition Press. In this powerful conversation, Wojahn reflects on poetry’s role in times of political upheaval and cultural uncertainty—how it both sustains us and resists easy consolation. He discusses the writers who shaped his thinking, from Yannis Ritsos to Elizabeth Bishop, and shares the intimate connection between his prose, his teaching, and his poetry. Wojahn also reads two striking new sonnets that mirror America’s shifting ideals across generations.  Don’t miss this thoughtful and deeply felt discussion about art, conscience, and the enduring necessity of poetry. This is David Wojahn Unbound. Purchase your copy of Secret Addressee: Essays on How Poetry Matters on our website: https://www.unboundedition.com/product/addressee-david-wojahn-literary-nonfiction/ [https://www.unboundedition.com/product/addressee-david-wojahn-literary-nonfiction/]

Aimee Parkison Unbound

Aimee Parkison is an acclaimed American author, educator, and innovator in experimental fiction. Her work, shaped by a deep commitment to exploring gender, violence, and the unspoken dimensions of trauma, blurs the boundaries between story and confession. Her fiction has appeared in North American Review, Bellingham Review, and Feminist Studies. A recipient of the Catherine Doctorow Innovative Fiction Prize, the Kurt Vonnegut Prize, the Starcherone Prize for Innovative Fiction, and a Christopher Isherwood Fellowship, Parkison currently teaches in the MFA/Ph.D. program at Oklahoma State University. This week on Authors Unbound, we talk with Aimee Parkison to discuss her forthcoming collection Body of Evidence, arriving October 2025 in honor of Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Rooted in personal witness and crafted with precision, the book confronts the realities of domestic violence while also creating space for healing and remembrance. Parkison shares insights into her writing process, the discoveries she makes in revision, and the responsibility of giving voice to experiences too often left unspoken. Don’t miss this moving conversation on resilience, storytelling, and the power of breaking silence. This is Aimee Parkison Unbound. Purchase your copy of Body of Evidence on Amazon or directly from Unbound Edition [https://www.unboundedition.com/product/body-of-evidence-aimee-parkison-short-fiction/]. For more from Unbound Edition Press, visit us at Unbound Edition [https://www.unboundedition.com/].

Alice Jones Unbound

Alice Jones is a poet, physician, and psychoanalyst whose work blends art, medicine, and psychology. She is the author of seven poetry collections and, the topic of this week's episode, the forthcoming memoir Cadence of Vanishing. Her writing has appeared in Poetry, Ploughshares, Kenyon Review, and Best American Poetry, earning her NEA and Bread Loaf fellowships as well as multiple prizes from the Poetry Society of America. This week on Authors Unbound, we talk with poet and psychoanalyst Alice Jones about her upcoming memoir Cadence of Vanishing, which is coming out Fall 2025. Blending poetry, journal entries, and session notes, Jones explores aging, loss, and the many stories that intersect in a single life. She reads moving passages from the book, reflects on how her work as an analyst shapes her writing, and shares why slowing down, listening deeply, and finding the right words matter more than ever in today’s noisy culture. Don’t miss this thoughtful conversation that brings poetry, history, and personal insight together in one powerful episode. This is Alice Jones Unbound. Purchase your copy of Cadence of Vanishing on amazon or directly from https://www.unboundedition.com/product/cadence-of-vanishing-alice-jones-literary-nonfiction/ [https://www.unboundedition.com/product/cadence-of-vanishing-alice-jones-literary-nonfiction/]  For more from Unbound Edition Press, visit us at https://www.unboundedition.com/ [https://www.unboundedition.com/]

J. Allyn Rosser Unbound

J. Allyn Rosser is an American poet, educator, and editor whose work blends wit, lyricism, and sharp observation of human experience. She has published four acclaimed poetry collections, with a fifth, Chronic Transience, forthcoming in 2025, and her poems have appeared in leading journals including The Atlantic Monthly and The Paris Review. Rosser’s career is marked by numerous honors, among them fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Academy of American Poets, as well as prizes for each of her first three books. She is Professor Emerita of English at Ohio University, where she also served as editor of New Ohio Review. This week, we welcomed J. Allyn Rosser to discuss her forthcoming collection Chronic Transience from Unbound Edition Press. With her trademark blend of wit, formal mastery, and emotional depth, Rosser reflects on mortality, memory, and the absurdities of daily life. In this intimate conversation, she reads and discusses poems such as “Evening Primrose,” “Respite,” “Well-Attended Event,” “Notes on the Latin,” and “Pre-Latter-day Love Poem,” sharing the personal stories and artistic impulses behind them. We talk about her father’s late-life paintings, the place of humor in poems about grief, the pull of formal verse, and how influences as varied as old Hollywood films, mistranslations, and even poker find their way into her work. Join us as we dive into J. Allyn Rosser’s poetry and explore how her wit, formal craft, and reflections on loss, humor, and art shape and enrich her creative voice. This is J. Allyn Rosser Unbound. Purchase your copy of Chronic Transience on Amazon, or directly from us at:   https://www.unboundedition.com/product/chronic-transience-j-allyn-rosser-poetry/ [https://www.unboundedition.com/product/chronic-transience-j-allyn-rosser-poetry/]  For more from Unbound Edition Press, visit us at https://www.unboundedition.com/ [https://www.unboundedition.com/]

W. S. Di Piero Unbound

W. S. Di Piero is an acclaimed American poet, essayist, translator, and educator whose work is shaped by his upbringing in a working-class Italian-American neighborhood in South Philadelphia. He has published over ten poetry collections, five books of essays, and numerous translations, often drawing from both everyday speech and classical art to craft vivid, emotionally resonant work. Di Piero’s poetry reflects a raw, observational style, praised for its rhythm, intensity, and connection to place. Over his career, he's become the recipient of major honors including a Guggenheim Fellowship, a NEA grant, and the 2012 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize for lifetime achievement. This week, we explored two of his newest works Burning Money and Inside the Box from Unbound Edition Press. Blending poetry, memory, and visual art, Di Piero reflects on family, faith, politics, and American culture through a deeply personal and formal lens. In this intimate conversation, he reads vivid and moving poems like "To a Friend Sick Again", "Edward Hopper (Yellow and Red)", and "Aubade" sharing stories behind their creation and his process of writing with “his whole body.” We discuss the influence of painters like Morandi and Hopper, the tension between politics and poetry, and how a poet’s eye learns to truly see—on the canvas and in the world. Join us as we dive into Di Piero’s poetry and reflect on how his encounters with art, history, and belief influence and enrich his creative voice. This is W. S. Di Piero Unbound. Purchase your copy of Burning Money and Inside the Box on amazon or directly from https://www.unboundedition.com/product/burning-money-w-s-di-piero-poetry/ [https://www.unboundedition.com/product/burning-money-w-s-di-piero-poetry/]  https://www.unboundedition.com/product/inside-the-box-w-s-di-piero-essays/ [https://www.unboundedition.com/product/inside-the-box-w-s-di-piero-essays/] For more from Unbound Edition Press, visit us at https://www.unboundedition.com/ [https://www.unboundedition.com/]