The Pathfinder Network • PATHfinder and POPS Club Anthologies

Eleven Years of Anthologies

The PATHfinder Club (formerly known as POPS the Club) has published a collection of poetry, stories, artwork, and photography by club members each year since 2013. These anthologies are healing for families, relished by students from elementary school through college, used in prisons and detention centers as inspiration, and praised by librarians, educators, and literary journals. In 2023, The Pathfinder Network assumed operation of POPS the Club, carrying on their publishing legacy through the expansion of The PATHfinder Club.

Our anthologies are published by Out of the Woods Press, established to dismantle barriers and to challenge the notion that some lives matter more than others. Out of the Woods Press publishes stories, poetry, and artwork created by people whose lives have been altered by incarceration. These books are designed to educate, enlighten, and open readers’ hearts and minds.

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A Secret Chord: Poetry, Stories & Art

The creators represented in A Secret Chord: Poetry, Stories & Art are a testament to the power of transforming pain into poetry, silence into song, sorrow into art, and isolation into community. These teens write searingly of this historical moment, some anonymously and some in their own names.

As Leticia Longoria-Navarro, Executive Director of The Pathfinder Network, reminds us—expression is power, and even the softest voice, uttering truth, can shake the world. These young people “are not simply telling stories; [they] are rewriting what is possible.”

This special anthology is now available to pre-order! A Secret Chord: Poetry, Stories & Art will be released on May 19, 2026.

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Home and Away: Poetry, Stories & Art

Finalist in the 38th annual IBPA Book Award program for Middle Grade/Young Adult: Nonfiction

The young artists of The PATHfinder and POPS Clubs whose poetry, stories, and art are represented in Home and Away let readers in on their vulnerability and longing, their tenderness and understanding. They write of dreams of bright futures and of challenging pasts. With each piece, we are invited to dive more deeply into their truths.

And in this powerful collection we learn that when youth feel safe, seen, nourished, and respected, they can fully express themselves. These creators’ lives have been impacted by carceral systems, and because their clubs offer spaces where they are seen, heard, and respected, they have breathed extraordinary life and light into their creations.

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Advice to 9th Graders: Stories, Poetry, Art & Other Wisdom

Winner of the 2025 Independent Publisher Book Award Peacemaker Medal

Early in this volume of poetry, essays, stories, and wisdom created by the youth of The PATHfinder Club and POPS the Club and edited by Amy Friedman, Tamira Shany advises readers that we have just two options: “Take pride and fail or endure and succeed.”

As you dive into Advice to 9th Graders (designed to guide 9th graders as they navigate high school but equally inspiring for the rest of us), we begin to understand that these young people are steering us toward endurance. As Rachael Galper’s photograph, Biased Comparisons, so beautifully illustrates, the best course is to find a way to express yourself without fear of judgment.

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