Watch the Q&A interviews, conducted by current mentee Rahat Huda, with our five honorees and emcee from the Fifth Annual Girls Write Now Awards below. For more check out the speeches from the evening.
“I always wanted to be a writer from childhood, but I didn’t have the kind of mentors that Girls Write Now have, and I wish I had had them, or some sense of guidance, so I’m thrilled to be connected with a situation that creates that for girls.”
—ZADIE SMITH, Author of Swing Time & Girls Write Now Rise Speak Change Honoree
“Being in a place of wonder and of questioning and the world being new is the most beautiful place. It’s a difficult place, but it’s where you have an amazing blank slate that allows you to leap forward in ways that really are most of the time impossible, because you don’t know any better.”
—Sophia Amoruso, Founder & Author, Girlboss & Girls Write Now Gamechanger Honoree
“I love how Girls Write Now is women to women, and it’s almost intrinsic validation because of that.”
—ILANA GLAZER and ABBI JACOBSON, Co-creators & Co-stars, Broad City & Girls Write Now Groundbreaker Honorees
“What you know is not limited to what you yourself personally experience; what we know is limited only by our curiosity and our engagement in the world.”
—MELISSA HARRIS-PERRY, Maya Angelou Presidential Chair, Wake Forest University & Girls Write Now Trailblazer Honoree
“There is frankly nothing more important and vital to our future than amplifying the voices of young girls.”
—ELAINE WELTEROTH, Editor-in-Chief of Teen Vogue & Girls Write Now Awards Emcee