I love reading anthologies, but it is very rare to come across one that manages to capture so many genres, forms and aspects of writing in one collection. Egg Box’s 2025 undergraduate anthology, entitled Underworld, has it all. This anthology has beauty: “If every star bathes in lust I hope to guide it to love” (‘Things I Want to Keep on Our Mantelpiece’, Lara Parsons), humour: “They claim his sexual freedom should be granted due to a condition he is ailed with: being a penguin” (‘Beloved Penguin Succumbs to a Life of Homosexuality’, Umay Bezen) and powerful imagery: “in destroying her/ you come home wrapped in her blood splattered flag” (‘For King and Country’, Sankavi Naresh). And these are nowhere near the only examples of such talent. When I agreed to read and review this anthology, I expected similar themes and atmospheres, but each piece had its own unique voice and message. Even those who were penned by the same writer still felt distinct from one another.

I had many moments when reading this anthology where I got annoyed at it, not at any fault of the authors, but because I was genuinely hoping for more of their work. This was most apparent for me in the prose pieces, especially ‘Things That Rot’ by Rachel Ellis and ‘‘Till Death’ by Caspian Kenville, as they both had such strong plot lines and were exactly the kind of thing I enjoy reading most. Darn word limits!

Nonetheless, both ended beautifully and my desire for more was a sign of how effectively these pieces were crafted. I know I’ve pulled out these two prose pieces, but I genuinely loved every piece I read and wish that I could talk about every single one here. Darn word limits once again!

In terms of the poetry, I saw no two pieces that were structured identically. There was so much experimentation and manipulation of the poetic form – it was incredible to see. I mean, the anthology opens with Maisie Buck’s ‘Long Lost Lovers’, a poem written onto a photo, following the natural flow of the nature surrounding it. Elias Daryani in ‘My Mother’s Tongue’ manipulates poetics to express their annoyance at the frequent mispronunciation of their name, “Do not call me something that is not my name/ I will no longer answer,” and how the pronunciation links to culture, family and heritage. Fen Llewelyn’s ‘Moon Sun’ uses its shape to create this beautiful juxtaposition between the comfort of the moon and the aggression of the sun. All three of these examples do something unique with their shapes, and each one of them uses this to expertly emphasise their meanings.

The two scripts that close this anthology, the aforementioned ‘Beloved Penguin Succumbs to a Life of Homosexuality’ by Umay Bezen and ‘Snatched’ by Rory Elliot-Brady, are amazing to see in an anthology. As someone who loves the art of screenplays and scripts, and thinks they’re often overlooked, I adored seeing both. Bezen’s script is highly humorous, but underneath that humour is a criticism of the treatment of homosexuality. Elliot-Brady’s is similarly humorous, but there is an underlying mystery with the switching of the door numbers and Kaleigh’s observation of the kidnapping. Both scripts do the difficult challenge of balancing humour with another aspect of storytelling, without one or the other becoming too overwhelming.

Egg Box should certainly be praised for this anthology, as they have managed to pull together this extraordinary overview of undergraduate talent, bound in a beautifully horrifying cover by Nicole Arnold.

Image Credit: Hazel Love and Polly Dye