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.
Stories from Inside "Unmuted" Coming Soon!
Stories from Inside "Unmuted" Coming Soon!
Thanksgiving
How does holiday tradition shape shift with tragedy?
A New World
This is the story of a young girl, uprooted from her familiar, comfortable home in New York City and placed in what was to her an unbearable new world.
in sickness and in health
A body in the woods finds meaning within the insects that swarm it.
I Once Thought I Knew Myself
This piece offers a discussion on how 2020 was a year that gave me time to reflect on myself.
Kill Them with Laughter, Kill Me with Peanuts
Allergies make you vulnerable. In my case, more mentally than physically, despite the physical severity a peanut poses. The piece below takes the reader inside my mind as I fear for my life.
The Rise of Fame, The Fall of Family
After spending the past year becoming a rising star, Daisy comes home plastered on the front page of The Times. Her parents disapprove of Daisy’s lifestyle, forcing her to choose between them and her fame.
To Be A Princess
I never realized that my dream of becoming a princess as already been fulfilled long before I was born.
Welcome To The Neighborhood
This story is an excerpt that explores the effects gentrification can have on a community and its foundational members. Clem has been living in this neighborhood forever, and it suddenly changes before her eyes.
Oma’s Hands
“Oma” is the German word for grandma. These two short memoirs are the beginning of a larger collection centering around my Oma and how my perception of her has changed over time.
The Smiling Eyes
Like the title of this anthology, I often feel like I am the other side of everything as I navigate my life in the USA as a Korean immigrant.
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.