Lauren is an 18-year-old African American from Prince George’s County, MD. This will be Lauren’s first time publishing a piece with Shout Mouse Press. Lauren is a writer, an actor, and an artist who will be attending the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in the fall of 2025. She plans to major in Studio Art, set the groundwork for a voice acting career in Chicago, and one day have her work on the big screen, whether that be as an actress, voice actress, director, or graphic designer. She hopes to move her audience and evoke the deepest emotions within a person with her work.

BOOKS BY LAUREN

Stubborn Roots

$14.99

Available for preorder — product will ship Oct 27 2026

By the young writers of Shout Mouse Press

"The poems and essays in Stubborn Roots have changed me in ways I was unprepared for. The profundity of their observations of the world, and of themselves, left me in awe. This is a special book filled with special writers." —Clint Smith, author of How the Word is Passed

This powerful anthology illuminates today’s activist experience through the poetry and essays of our most vital and essential youth.

Through compelling poetry, 18 young writers of color plant their resistance in the soil of our uncertain future. They tackle disparities across lines of gender and sexuality, race and ethnicity, ableism and fatphobia, immigration and the environment, and more. Their poems are accompanied by portraits of each poet (by cover artist Sobia Ahmad) along with first-person essays on what liberation means to them.

Diverse voices and styles shine throughout Stubborn Roots, providing personal and cultural context to ongoing conversations about change in the United States. Tender and green, vulnerable and wondrous, this singular book of poems serves as an urgent call to the transformative power of art and is a must-have for young readers looking to develop their connection to social justice.

Foreword by Camonghne Felix, author of Let the Poets Govern.

ISBN: 9781950807901
Age: 12+
Page Count: 220
Coming Fall 2026

RECOGNITION

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"A new world lined with poems made of pure gold.” —Yesika Salgado, author of Corazón

"young poets have the power to liberate themselves, their communities, and ultimately, the world" —Christine Platt, author of Less is Liberation

"The poems and essays in Stubborn Roots have changed me in ways I was unprepared for." —Clint Smith, author of How the Word is Passed