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!
We are Girls from the East
The poem speaks to our shared history as Asian-American women, emphasizing a colonial past in China and India, our liberation, and the formation of new rituals between generations all through the lens of tea.
Negativity Is Destruction
I was inspired by the illusions in my head as if there was a hamster in a wheel and it kept spinning. I felt that the only way to get the wheel to stop was to write my thoughts out on paper.
Me In The Eyes of 2020
Two perspectives on 2020, a year of change, growth, tragedy, and conflict.
The Ice Cliffs
The themes in this poem sparked from an adventure in Lake Placid when I was visiting with my family. We went on a frozen nature walk and saw these gigantic ice cliffs.
Chatty Seagulls
Chatty seagulls is a poem about making every second of your life worthy.
Silent Neighborhoods Across New York
A poem about our two neighborhoods in New York and our experiences inhabiting the city in our own particular lenses.
Christmas in the City
I was inspired to write this piece in December 2020 when I was absorbing the Christmas spirit in a shut-down New York City.
The Man
The Man By Lauren Weisberg As college draws nearer, Nora’s recurring nightmares begin to catch up with her real life
Leather in Heaven
This piece challenges the gender stereotypes surrounding masculinity through two father-son relationships. The narrator’s father associates masculinity with anger, but the cowboy father teaches his son that true strength comes from being kind to others.
Bee
On a warm spring's day, I walked down the street and I saw a bee. I wondered what other functions it had besides pollinating.
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.