Complicated landscapes of beauty, threat, and unease
Sandra Marchetti’s third full-length collection, Diorama (Stephen F. Austin University Press, 2025) depicts a woman in complicated uneasy relationships with the world, nature, and herself. Marchetti presents a dazzling array of poems that demonstrate the sure hand with language of a veteran poet who is also an accomplished writer of prose.
An ambiguous, thrilling adaptation of Mary Shelley’s classic novel
Emily Burns’s adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is the kind of play that makes me an active participant in the drama and sits with me after the curtain call, getting more and more interesting as I mull it over. Written and directed by Burns, this world premiere is on stage at the Shakespeare Theatre through June 29.
Washington Unbound Pride 2025 Booklist
In the current political climate, recognizing June as Pride Month is more important than ever. At Washington Unbound we want to celebrate and uplift queer voices in the best way we know. A booklist!
Two poets question the end of the world
In Q&A for the End of the World, D.C. area poets Kim Roberts and Michael Gushue grapple with the themes that permeate classic science fiction and horror films of the 1950s and ‘60s: the promises and threats of science and technology, personal and cultural identity, the rise of the surveillance state, will outer space aliens come to destroy or save us from ourselves.
Making Shakespeare new again
There’s a fascinating new production of Twelfth Nighton stage at the Folger Theatre, running through June 22. It’s a lot of fun. It’s also a bit odd and messy, a surprising take on William Shakespeare’s classic comedy of twins separated by a shipwreck. Director Mei Ann Teo takes chances here with an overtly sexy, adult production that brings the inherent bawdiness of Shakespeare’s text to the surface.
A meticulously researched glimpse into the Depression-era South
In her second work of historical fiction, Liza Nash Taylor brings us to early 1930s Virginia, New England, and many locales in between. In All Good Faith is richly detailed—from the glass jars of pickles and beet-pink eggs in the Keswick Market, to the “golden-hued marble lobby” of the Boston Public Library, to a bedraggled campsite beside the Anacostia River.
Interrogating and modernizing the myth of Psyche
In Psyche (Anxiety Press, 2024) Casey Catherine Moore interrogates, queers, and modernizes the myth of Psyche, the goddess of the soul in Greek and Roman mythology who was loved by Eros and tormented by Aphrodite. Rich in explanatory notes and annotations, the book reflects Moore’s extensive scholarship and her strong poetic skills.
Drawing on tales to explore roles—and whiteness
Holly Karapetkova seems to me a poet who understands the power of spells, of arranging words so that they get to a more primal level of meaning beyond whatever ordinary situation her words describe. The first poem in Dear Empire (Gunpowder Press, 2025) could almost be a blessing or spell for motherhood. The words hang in such a way that something slightly unreal—gift or curse—seems about to break through.
Waves and Threads
Michele Evans, a fifth-generation Washingtonian, is a writer, teacher, and adviser for Unbound, an award-winning Northern Virginia high school literary magazine (no relation to Washington Unbound). This first book shows the benefits a poet derives from many years of teaching and working with student writers.
The satirical, the earnest, and the politics of activism
Z. Hanna’s debut book, We’re Gonna Get Through This Together (Modern Artist Press, March 2025), is a smart, lyrical, and incisively witty short story collection about the murky waters we find ourselves in when we try to fight against injustice and search for a place to belong. At once satirical and earnest, this collection explores race, class, gender, sexuality, and the politics of activism.