ANTHOLOGIES
Girls Write Now Unmuted: The 2021 Anthology
Girls Write Now is thrilled to be in partnership again this year with Dutton, who produced this anthology. A special thanks to the team at Dutton—Christine Ball,Maya Ziv, and Lexy Cassola, and to Feminist Press and Jamia Wilson, who produced the ebook. Thank you as well to Amazon Literary Partnership for their continued support, which directly funds the production of our anthologies.
In the 2021 Girls Write Now Anthology, our mentees give voice to fear and silence, demand justice, and hold nothing back. To be unmuted right now requires a new brand of bravery, and these writers show how it’s done. Using stories, poems, essays, fiction, drama, interviews and more, they report on a global pandemic, a climate crisis and the movement for racial equality. They also invite us on their personal journeys through the labyrinth of young adulthood: feeling the rich soil of a neighborhood garden beneath their fingers; traveling through time in search of their parents; inhaling the charged air where young love is brewing. In a world pushed to the precipice of change, in a society that values the tried and true over the dynamic and new, the Girls Write Now class of 2021 is breaking the chains and showing what it means to speak loud, clear and true—to be unmuted.
Foreword by
Introduction by
Read What's Inside
Browse our collection of stories from inside the book. Complete with notes from the author and anecdotes from our mentees and mentors.
Girls Write Now Unmuted Print Anthology
Stories from Inside "Unmuted" Coming Soon!
Stories from Inside "Unmuted" Coming Soon!
The King of Hearts
The King of Hearts is random from a deck of cards where truly the title is meaningless but the poem somehow makes it seem relevant.
Scary Things/Midsummer
These pieces explore my ideas on love, loss, and emotional validation. They're the products of a girl who got lost inside her own head for too long.
Full House (with the K.M.A)
My family and the K.M.A are as tight as sticky labels on glass bottles: they’re hard to separate, but they often look better together.
I’m Happy
A piece that has been waiting too long to say what needed to be said, out loud and to the world. Regardless of everything that has happened this year, I’m happy to be alive!
Forever Queens/ The End of the N
We wrote two poems about our relationship to our residing borough, Queens. (Lilly is a lifelong native and Toni moved to Astoria five years ago.)
Night Swimming at Summer Camp in New Hampshire
The girls swim in the lake at summer camp. It is the only place around them that is cool.
palatable
"palatable" is a product of my experiences as a young black girl at a predominantly white school. Particularly, it’s my examination of the concept of palatability, and what it means to prepare yourself for consumption.
A Tale of Two Grandmothers
A Tale of Two Grandmothers By Lena DiBiasio & Hayley Altman Two grandmothers meet and form a close bond, only
Butterfly 蝴蝶
“Butterfly 蝴蝶” is an ode to my great-grandmother, who passed away a few years ago. On occasion, the butterfly of her spirit still flies by.
things i couldn’t tell you: pieces from an incomplete love story
A series of poems offer a small window into a passionate and debilitating relationship, of which our narrator discloses the intricacies and afflictions of the love she endured.
Praise for Here & Now
From the Literary Community
Intersectional Voices in Editorial Print Committee
Every year, the Intersectional Voices in Editorial (IV Edit) Print Committee brings their talents to the task of editing, producing, and promoting this fresh collection of writing from today’s emerging voices. The committee is made up of mentors, mentees, and other volunteers who are passionate about diversifying the publishing landscape.