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!
What the Lake Knows
Written during a moment of writer’s block, this piece explores the tension between silence, observation, and the desire to create.
Hey, how’ve you been?
Throughout life, people and relationships come and go, often leaving us with lingering questions. In this piece, I explore those unanswered questions and seek closure through the process of asking them.
Vanilla, Pandan, and Everything In Between
This descibes an integral part in my journey to accepting the Vietnamese part of my heritage, eating a traditional Vietnamese cake every year on my birthday.
Things Left Unsaid
In times of despair, there is no one to turn to but the secrets that unfold from the ones you once trusted.
The Scent of Freedom
Freedom is the ability to choose. Choose what your life looks like, and soap gives me that freedom.
How Writing Changed Me
This is a multimedia version of my writing piece How Writing Changed Me to demonstrate how writing made a huge impact on my life.
Aching Open
When faced with the width of the world, what can we choose?
A History of Runners
an ode to running in the form of a prose poem
a poem where she moves her head away after José Olivarez
I have heard that the body remembers what the mind does not. Whoever’s mind this poem is birthed from, I pray that your body heals from this memory.
“Writing is taking the reins of my life into my own hands”…Davia Schendel and Carolyn Zheng’s Life@GWN
“Writing is taking the reins of my life into my own hands”…Davia Schendel and Carolyn Zheng’s Life@GWN
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.