Underground Bookshelf

Underground Bookshelf attended the Open Streets: Jamaica Plain on August 2, 2026. Each person who visited our table had a chance to fill in one line of the following story. Thank you so much to everyone who participated. It was so much fun to see what each new person added to the project.

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.

Elliot Harris is a father who believes that showing up should be enough. He wakes before dawn, counts his steps, and measures his energy against the demands of the day. Living with an autoimmune condition that does not show on his face, he negotiates every stair, every hallway, and every appointment with careful precision. From the outside, he appears steady. Responsible. Reliable.

What does that mean? There are lots of options this month. Here's what I'm looking for:

Thank you to everyone who participated in this past month's contest. I enjoyed the creative directions each of you took to the prompt. We got submissions of poetry and memoir on grief, loss, arts, joy, and more.

Underground Bookshelf attended the Disability Pride Celebration at the Museum of Science in Boston, MA on July 25, 2026. Each person who visited our table had a chance to fill in one line of the following story. Thank you so much to everyone who participated. It was so much fun to see what each new person added to the project.

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, "A Mini Thought..." by Kerrin "KJ" Jackson (she/her). Thank you to everyone who submitted. Keep writing!

"The Beauty and the Beast" by Roj is a poem that explores gender, attraction, family, abandonment, and innocence through an LGBTQ+ lens.

Thank you to Korra II for allowing me to repost this book review. This review was originally published on February 10, 2023, on Baskerville Books. You can find the original review here.

Q: Please introduce yourself! Share your name, pronouns, and something fun, interesting, curious, or important (take your pick) about yourself that you would like your audience to know.

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.