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!
Writer in the dark
Before I found writing, I was lost. After that, I was found.
Under Water
Some moments never stuck, others are vividly blazed. These are memories are stained-covered with tears, laughter and my heart. Invaluable and reflected across page.
Girl, missing, presumed alive
This microfiction charts the journey of a girl overwhelmed by expectations as wildfires rage around her.
The Blue Book
Blue indicates many notions, more chaotically, heightening the euphoria and dysphoria of a relationship to the independent entity of nature. "The Blue Book:" encompasses a lesson learned from a peaceful world, the loudest voice.
He & She
One Girl… One Love… where did it lead her?
Greed
This poem exemplifies how human greed destroys the planet, and the beings that have nothing to do with humans’ actions are the ones who suffer.
Moving Up
As Elery adapts to her new job at the publishing firm, she looks back on her previous job at the local bookstore. The skills she gained stacking books may be more useful than she thought.
College Essay
An insight into a journey of communication and the challenges that come with it.
Confinements of Society
This is a college essay about diversity, confinement and the upbringing within a small, narrow-minded community.
Where We’re From
New York skyscrapers are far from the sky-scraping Smoky Mountains, and in combining our stories, we shared our fierce pride for our homes and the inherent poetry there is in growing up in these places.
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.