Welcome to Underground Bookshelf!

This website is dedicated to celebrating diversity in literature! If you like to read work by new writers, please visit Short Stories & Poems. To lcheck out book reviews and to learn about the history of exclusion in film, television, literature, and comic books, visit Essays. On the Resources page, you will find a vast array of articles to help you explore new books and new ways of reading as well as a few articles for the writers among us. All are welcome to participate in the monthly writing contests. Visit Writing Contests to find out this month's theme and to find out how to participate. Visit the Submissions page if you would like to submit your work to be featured on this platform. And if you are an indie, self-published, or up-and-coming author or poet, consider contacting me about being featured in one of the Author Q&A posts or for your book to be included in the Book Release Radar. Underground Bookshelf is on Patreon for those who would like to help me keep this project going. You're also welcome to subscribe to the monthly newsletter to receive regular updates. May you find your next favorite book or author! Happy reading!


Resource: YA Books by Authors of Iranian Heritage (Part 2)

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.

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"Lionfish" by Kris Rouille - Roxbury Poetry Festival 2026

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 honorable mentions, "Lionfish," by Kris Rouille. Thank you to everyone who submitted. Keep writing!

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"Closure" by Joshua Walker - Roxbury Poetry Festival 2026

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 honorable mentions, "Closure," by Joshua Walker. Thank you to everyone who submitted. Keep writing!

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Book Release: Once Upon a Fairytale edited by S.K. Gregory

Once Upon a Fairytale is an anthology of original fairytales written by seven authors and edited by S.K. Gregory. The contributors used Story Cubes to determine characters, plot elements, and other items within the stories told. With a dark fantasy bent, these stories resemble the fairytales of old and are just right for readers of Grimm's Fairytales and Hans Christian Anderson.

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Author Q&A: S.K. Gregory

USA Today Bestselling Author S. K. Gregory writes urban fantasy, paranormal romance and horror stories. Rarely seen without a pen in her hand, she loves writing about supernatural worlds and the creatures that live within them.

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September 2026 Contest Submissions

What does that mean? There are lots of options this month. Poetry, short stories, excerpts, and so forth are all welcome (the full list is below). The stipulation is that all submissions must be works of "own voices" writing or storytelling.

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August 2026 Contest Results

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 drama, general fiction, essays, and scripts.

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Resource: Cookbooks by Authors of Iranian Heritage (Part 1)

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.

Read more »

Essay: "Fat shaming in The Good Place" by Alex Chan

Thank you to Alex Chan for allowing me to repost this article which discusses her views of the "fat" jokes used on the television series, The Good Place. You can find this article in its original form on the author's website. It was originally posted on June 21, 2020.

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"Resistance is Joy" by Shirley A. Jones Luke - Roxbury Poetry Festival 2026

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 honorable mentions, "Resistance is Joy," by Shirley A. Jones Luke (she/her). Thank you to everyone who submitted. Keep writing!

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Group Story - Open Streets: Jamaica Plain (2026)

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.

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Resource: Nonfiction Books by Authors of Iranian Heritage (Part 1)

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.

Read more »