The Underground Literary Alliance is a Philadelphia-based and internationally membered group of writers, zinesters and DIY writers. They seek to expose what they see as the corruption and insularity in the American book-publishing establishment while providing alternative avenues for writers who don't easily fit into mainstream institutions and agendas.
Among many other activities, they have gained considerable attention for their exposure of an insular literary practice whereby establishment authors serve on juries to award monetary prizes to their writing friends. In particular they have been able to point out cases where the prizewinning authors are in fact already wealthy, and thus can be seen as taking money from other authors who actually need it.
In general the ULA favors direct, vernacular writing over the more cryptic and mannered styles of the present-day academy. They present their literary aesthetic in their communal lit-zine, Slush Pile.
A quote from Karl Wenclas, the organization's Publicity Director: "The Underground Literary Alliance is the most controversial writers' group in America. We stand up for writers, expose corruption in the publishing world, and work to create a fun & exciting alternative to the literary mainstream."
Read more about Underground Literary Alliance: History
Famous quotes containing the words underground, literary and/or alliance:
“It is in our interests to let the police and their employers go on believing that the Underground is a conspiracy, because it increases their paranoia and their inability to deal with what is really happening. As long as they look for ringleaders and documents they will miss their mark, which is that proportion of every personality which belongs in the Underground.”
—Germaine Greer (b. 1939)
“The literary “fellow travelers” of the Revolution.”
—Leon Trotsky (1879–1940)
“In short, no association or alliance can be happy or stable without me. People can’t long tolerate a ruler, nor can a master his servant, a maid her mistress, a teacher his pupil, a friend his friend nor a wife her husband, a landlord his tenant, a soldier his comrade nor a party-goer his companion, unless they sometimes have illusions about each other, make use of flattery, and have the sense to turn a blind eye and sweeten life for themselves with the honey of folly.”
—Desiderius Erasmus (c. 1466–1536)