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!
The Historical Construction of Colonialism and Race in Aimé Césaire’s Notebook of a Return to the Native Land (Excerpts)
This paper was originally written for my First-Year Writing Seminar: Writings of Exile. It discusses Césaire’s writing on colonial violence and the internalization of exile, rather than it being simply a phenomenon of physical displacement.
Tales of Hero and Villain
A perfect town’s decaying world is set in stone; a world unconsented to. It’s not the easiest knowing our fate stands between the rich and corrupt, or that there was never any difference at all.
Lost Child
In this short story excerpt, immediately after her (supposed) imaginary friend saves her from a terrible fall into a ravine, a young girl is whisked away from her lonely days into a world of adventure.
Paris: City of Love!
We have this funny little idea that romance completes things. I had this idea while studying abroad in Paris this summer. And when romance didn’t magically appear I decided to look for it.
Stupidly Optimistic.
Mental health is often overlooked in society. This poem dives into the mind of a teenager who finally has had enough.
Walking on a Shortened Path of Time
The love that you have given me shall not perish even if time separates two souls that were destined to meet. This is a love letter to you, my beautiful Ammu.
We Slink into the Wilderness
This piece chronicles a drive upstate across the Taconic, feeling each bend in the road, looking for familiar trees out of my window.
pretty vain
About loving your pretty.
My Natural History
This poem is special to me; it is connected with my own journey of living with anxiety, longing, and what it means to be in my body.
Lunch Hour
Every day at school, I get lunch from the same place, just to see the grandma who works there. It’s the highlight of my day.
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.