Mission
The Literary Underground is a grassroots effort committed to supporting independent artists and fostering community in the independent press by providing web space, information, and resources for authors, publishers, and readers of underground literature.
It Started With the Wiki
The Literary Underground Wiki was created in June 2010 to compile a shared knowledge base about the underground press. It’s an open-source encyclopedia written collaboratively by the people who use it. The Literary Underground Wiki covers the history, production, distribution and culture of the underground press. Anyone can contribute to the wiki by adding new information to existing articles, or by creating new articles.
The Literary Underground Wiki does not impose many of the restrictions one might come across when contributing articles to Wikipedia. Some of the best, most informative articles have been written by the subjects themselves.
The Literary Underground Wiki’s aim is to become a great resource for the community it represents. They need your help! Getting started is easy. To edit or create articles new contributors only need to create a free account and sign in. There is a listing of “wanted” pages (subjects that are mentioned in other articles) where you can click on a subject and be taken directly to a page to create that new article.
What Now?
Updates on new releases, reviews and events are posted to the News page on a regular basis then compiled for a monthly newsletter. Defunct publications are hosted in the Archives. The Literary Underground sponsors the Project U Radio Network on blogtalk radio.
Citizens for Decent Literature was founded in 2011 as a project of The Literary Underground. Established first as a print zine and APA (Amateur Press Association)—formats now include Little Books, Roll Your Own Stories and the Manuscript Series – all available for FREE. The Chapbook Series is available at or below cost. Now Playing @ Citizens for Decent Literature, the online publication of CFDL, began publishing poetry, short stories, essays, and rants on January 1, 2012 every third day. In August 2012 the publishing schedule moved to monthly with the first issue on August 15th.
The Literary Underground works with independent publications, presses, and authors to organize, host, and sponsor literary events. The LU participated in the Midwest Small Press Festival held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in June 2012… hosting a table of free and cheap independent works at the book fair and working with Catfish McDaris to organize the “Street, Meat and Beat” Poetry reading.
In coordination with Zygote in my Coffee, they will be hosting “Happy Endings” on Saturday, November 3, 2012 from 4-6 pm at The Box Improv & Performance Space on Gold Avenue in downtown Albuquerque, New Mexico. Happy Endings is to mark the end of the Zyfez reading series (Toledo 2011 and Oakland 2012) with a newly forged alliance between The Literary Underground and Zygote in my Coffee in pledge of supporting underground authors and writing. Zygote in my Coffee is a literary publication that has been publishing online for nearly ten years and in print for five. Many popular, independent authors have had their first works published here.
On Sunday, November 4, 2012, The Literary Underground will partner with The Meth Lab to host “Mothpocalypse”. Mothpocalypse is a gathering of multi-lingual vagabonds, writers and poets communing like it’s early Spring in the middle of Autumn. This event will take place from 5-7 pm at the Harwood Arts Center on 7th & Mountain in downtown Albuquerque. Local author Frankie Metro serves as an editor for The Meth Lab, as well as working on various projects including the Project U Radio Network at The Literary Underground. The Meth Lab takes a ‘no holds barred’ approach to their publishing efforts and seeks to highlight the talents of unknown or not well known authors?a goal that is shared with The Literary Underground.
More information on these and other events can be found at theliteraryunderground.org/events
Resources
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The Literary Underground Wiki
The Literary Underground Wiki is an open-source encyclopedia devoted to the underground press. It covers the history, production, distribution and culture of the underground press.
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Archives
The Literary Underground provides web space/storage for defunct online publications. View the listings in the Archives Directory.
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Links
A growing page of Links to Literature and Art-related directories, publications, and sites.