American lit world’s biggest-named writers, editors, and agents—but none of them signed. Since its founding, the ULA has constantly engaged in its own brand of “literary activism” which has gained the group a notoriety for exposing what they see as corruption in the American literary world and for harshly criticizing corporate-promulgated literary fiction. Current ULA members include Patrick Simonelli, editor of litvision.org, Leopold McGinnis, author of Game Quest, Tom Hendricks, creator of the Zine Hall of Fame, and poet Frank Walsh. The ULA launched its own independent press in 2006. As of December 1, 2010, the Underground Literary Alliance appeared disbanded, with no viable webpage. Co-founder Steve Kostecke died in April 2011. Literary activism Guggenheim grant protest In late 2000, the six founders of the ULA signed a protest against the $35,000 Guggenheim grant awarded to Rick Moody, an already-wealthy author. Debate with George Plimpton & The Paris Review In early 2001, the ULA held a press conference at CBGBs in New York City which was attended by George Plimpton, staffers at The Paris Review, and staffers of Open City magazine. The ULA debated with those who attended about what they perceive to be the irrelevancy and lack of integrity of the current realm of corporate/academia-sponsored literature. KGB Crash In early 2001, the ULA crashed a literati reading at KGB in New York City. The members present disrupted the reading with arguments about how literature has died under the current corporate system – and were then thrown out of the venue. Firecracker Awards Late 2001, the ULA protested against McSweeney's Quarterly Concern being awarded Best Zine of the Year by the Firecracker Alternative Books Award because they felt McSweeney’s did not fit an accepted definition of zine. Perceived Cronyism in the Lit World The ULA protested the 2002 National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) award of $20,000 to Jonathan Franzen, an already-wealthy author and highly publicized best-selling author of The Corrections. Rick Moody was on the NEA panel, and the ULA contested that this was an example of the literati insularly awarding each other. Housing Works In early 2003, members of the ULA were kicked out of a reading at Housing Works in New York City for requesting a discussion of issues, including a looming war. They stated that they were confronting the writers about what they saw as a lack of social or political relevancy to the stories being