every attempt is a poem.
Unfold is for poets who show up to the page and community exactly as they are. We make writing fun for casual and career poets who want to connect with other writers and be held accountable to their personal writing goals.
Unfold membership gives you access to year-round poetry programming, helping you become a more community-engaged and accountable writer along the way.
Join us annually, quarterly, or by individual workshop. We offer plans for every budget and experience level.
Hi! I’m Tristan, founder and lead facilitator of Unfold.
Tristan Richards (she/her) is a poet, educator, 4w3 so, ENFP, gemini sun/cancer moon/virgo rising, and equal parts sarcastic and sappy. She is the Founder & Lead Facilitator for Unfold Writing Community and lives in Bend, Oregon (she also wants you to know she spent 33 years in Minnesota and still feels strange calling Oregon home).
Tristan is the author of two self-published chapbooks: Not All Challenges Are For Us (2022) and The Year Was Done Right (2019). Her poems have been published in RABBLE REVIEW, Gnashing Teeth, ALOCASIA, Writers Resist, trampset, Preposition: The Undercurrent Anthology, on the Mankato Poetry Walk & Ride, and in Firethorne. She is the recipient of a Professional Mid-Career Artist Grant from the Minnesota Prairie Lakes Regional Arts Council.
Each year, Tristan facilitates over 100 writing workshops—most notably Unfold: 30 Days of Writing in Community (a daily poetry writing workshop for National Poetry Writing Month). Throughout the rest of the year, she leads programming ranging from editing workshops to visual art and awe-finding. You can find her newsletter here.
Tristan holds an MA in Leadership in Student Affairs from the University of St. Thomas and a BA in Communication Studies from Gustavus Adolphus College. She worked in higher education (mostly new student orientation) until 2022.