Underground Bookshelf

Hi everyone! Thanks so much for coming back to visit Underground Bookshelf. I love sharing these resources with you, and I hope everyone who visits finds something they're looking for - whether that's a little light reading, a writing contest, to find the next author or book to add to your TBR, or something else.

Underground Bookshelf attended the Roxbury Poetry Festival on June 27th, 2026. Attendees were invited to participate in a one-day micro-poetry contest at our booth, and we received so many great submissions that it was hard to select the winners. But it was truly delightful reading what everyone submitted. I can't wait to do another contest like this at the other events we attend this summer. Below, you'll find one of the top three poems,, "Bumblebee Yellow Swimsuit" by Kristen (she/her). Thank you to everyone who submitted. Keep writing!

What does that mean?

Underground Bookshelf attended the Roxbury Poetry Festival on June 27th, 2026. Attendees were invited to participate in a one-day micro-poetry contest at our booth, and we received so many great submissions that it was hard to select the winners. But it was truly delightful reading what everyone submitted. I can't wait to do another contest like this at the other events we attend this summer. Below, you'll find the winners and honorable mentions for Saturday's contest. The poems themselves will be released in the following weeks. Thank you to everyone who submitted. Keep writing!

Underground Bookshelf attended the Roxbury Poetry Festival on June 27th, 2026. Each person who visited our table had a chance to fill in one line of the following poem. Thank you so much to everyone who participated. It was so much fun to see what each new person added to the project. We will write our next group poem on June 25th at the Disability Pride Celebration at the Museum of Science. Members of the Underground Bookshelf community have access to free tickets through a discount code. Please reach out to me at contact.undergroundbookshelf@gmail.com or visit the Summer Events page to get the code. Booking your tickets in advance is recommended.

Congratulations to Ri for winning the April contest. Four chapters of the book were submitted to this contest. You can find the story in full here.

I've got two events scheduled so far (and working on a third one), so if you happen to be in the area of Boston, MA, USA on the dates below, you're invited to join one (or more) of the events listed below. The events are FREE to attend!

Welcome to the latest resource series by Underground Bookshelf. This series focuses on literature written by authors of Iranian heritage. War often comes with undermining the humanity of the people and cultures impacted. One way to reaffirm a people's humanity is to engage with the people, culture, and perspectives through literature and storytelling. In this series, you'll find fiction and nonfiction books for children, middle grade readers, young adults, and adult readers.

I know, I know, the comic series, Storm, is aptly named because it centers Ororo Munroe, a.k.a. Storm. So, I should really be talking about how great Storm is in this series. But there's an (almost) throwaway panel that stood out to me as a person with a disability, and I've got to talk about it as well.

Originally posted to Wattpad, "The Second Trial" by Twixie is a poem that explores the trauma that comes with society's treatment of sexual assault survivors. The poem is part of a collection called, Symphony of Wings & Hearts.

Why is it that every time you think things can't get any worse, they do?

Congratulations to Ri for winning the April contest. Four chapters of the book were submitted to this contest. You can find the story in full here.