Hope Lauterbach is a writer, poet, and founder of the Unbound Reading Series. Today, our Managing Editor Chimedum Ohaegbu interviews her on Unbound’s most memorable moments, six years since its inception, the notion of rest in cultural work, and dreams for the collective’s future.
This interview is part of our ongoing collaboration with Unbound, which includes an inaugural Summer Open Mic event for Black creatives, taking place on August 8th this year.
Chimedum Ohaegbu: In an interview with Lexi Mellish Mingo in 2022, you discussed some of the readings, including a quote from an interview published in the Tyee, that have been with you in your journey as a writer and organizer. What readings, art, films, or conversations by Black writers have inspired you since?
Hope Lauterbach: Akwaeke Emezi’s YA novels Pet and Bitter, Octavia E. Butler’s essay “A Few Rules for Predicting the Future“, and Yrsa Daley-Ward’s memoir The Terrible, and her daily reflections on substack.
CO: I was lucky enough to read at one of the earliest Unbound events, and I truly loved being there. It was such a welcoming space, and I still talk to people I met that day. How do you curate that energy, that reciprocity, as an event-planner? What does your mind (and your desk) look like when you’re in “Unbound mode”?
HL: I’ve never really thought about my “Unbound mode”, but I keep detailed event notes and templates in Google Docs, and I also have an “Unbound notes” notebook for the brainstorming I need to do on paper. Having a streamlined event planning process and structure removes a lot of the stress and guesswork. As for curating energy, my first thought when planning any event is the audience’s experience. What are they going to take away? What can we share together? Also, there’s an Unbound playlist I’ve put together to hype myself up. Music is a great way to set the tone.
CO: I’m interested in hearing about your work as a writer. Do you have any literary projects you’re swimming in at the moment, that you’re excited to get started on, or return to?
HL: I’m currently swimming in a poetry manuscript. Some days it feels like I’m lost at sea, other days I’m happily on an island surrounded by stacks of paper and the works of other poets I admire. This work explores identity, recovery and my journey as a transracial adoptee to missionary parents.
CO: Six years in, could you tell me a bit about what some of your favourite Unbound moments have been?
HL: A golden memory for me is having everyone dance to the Cha-Cha-Slide after we closed the first live-streamed Unbound event in 2020.
Also, our sold out show crammed into the former Massy Arts Society gallery space in 2022. We had a great panel of readers and there was so much joy in that little room.
And more recently, collaborating with Neworld Theatre on the open mic events has brought so much life into the project. When Harrison Mooney said yes to hosting the open mic, I was so happy. He was my first pick.
Honestly, there have been so many great moments and ripples to come out of Unbound. I’ve met so many great people, and felt so many emotions. I could go on and on.
CO: You went on hiatus for a little while. Could you tell me about your philosophy on rest as an arts organizer, and how to honour your needs over the course of different seasons of a long-running project?
During your hiatus, you’ve still been busy, including hosting And Then What Happened?, a prose-forward open mic. How did your work on Unbound inform ATWH, and vice versa?
HL: You gotta take breaks or you will run yourself ragged and your art will suffer. I still struggle with allowing myself to rest, but taking a hiatus was necessary and I’m glad I finally did. I guess I was afraid that the wheels would fall off if I stopped moving, but we’re still rolling!
And Then What Happened was inspired by the salon lunchtime readings held during the 2025 Club Zed Playwrights’ Festival by Black Theatre Workshop in Montreal. I loved the interaction between the writer, the work-in-progress and the audience. It’s vulnerable for everyone. I have Neworld Theatre to thank for sending me on that adventure. Like the Unbound reading events, And Then What Happened has brought surprises and introduced me to other writers.
CO: We’re excited for the Unbound reading coming up in August, with featured reader Whitney French! What are you most looking forward to for this hotly anticipated return of the Unbound Reading Series?
HL: I’m looking forward to bringing everyone together, hearing new readings, and eating cake!
CO: In the previous interview, you mentioned your 10-year-plan, and your bio mentions that you “currently reside in that place between sleep and awake”. What dreams do you have for the future of the Unbound Reading Series–format dreams, dream featured readers, collective dreams?
HL: Ha-ha-ha, I used to think that I needed to have every decision planned through. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned over time is that you could never predict the next blessing coming your way. It’d be fun to bring Unbound to more cities though.
CO: When you’ve been interviewed, what’s a question you’ve not been asked that you’d like to be asked? And then, what’s the answer to that question?
HL: This is a great question. I think I’d ask, “When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up?”
I’ve been quoted as saying I wanted to be “The Boss”, but script writer and magazine editor were there too.
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