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!
Li’s Kitchen
Growing up as a daughter of resturant owners, I explore the shame of not having parents that could dedicate their time to me and the realization of the sacrifices they made for my happiness.
The Sixteenth Note: A College Essay
This is an essay I wrote while applying to college on my identity as a musical theater writer.
Bottled Up
A glimpse into the tantalizing cycle of waiting and wanting.
I Don’t Listen to BTS
This personal essay is a core memory of Summer 2019.
An Ode to Pan-Africanism
This poem is dedicated to culture, lost identities, and the truth that it's never too late to connect back to your roots that were taken away from you.
To My Dad
“But I can’t be angry forever that my dad isn’t the dad I wish he was. Anyway, did you see the last episode of Survivor?”
Method Acting
Every new hire must don the skin of a beast and perform a violent ritual daily at this family-friendly theme park.
Black Girls
A poem that tackles surface-layer Black characters and urges Black humanity.
Conversations
I am shy. I don’t seem like the shy type with my friends because I’m the loud one. But when I talk to someone who doesn’t know how I tick, I act like I’m listening while I am melting inside.
cross stitch
there is something deeply wrong with the body.
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.