If I had to pinpoint the moment my mentee Kaya and I really, deeply clicked, it was probably during a conversation about history. We met at our usual spot in Brooklyn, unpacking the contents of our respective days, and somehow the conversation got around to the things we wished we’d learned in school. As a Black girl growing up in a small Michigan town in the 1990s, stories by authors who looked like me were never on the curriculum. When I went to college, my entire universe exploded. I was exposed to so many histories, stories, and experiences through the books I read that completely altered my view of the world, and the place I saw for myself within it. I learned that for Kaya, a Black girl growing up in New York City in the 2010s, our experiences may not have been so different. She told me that she also felt like there were crucial things left out of the lessons she was taught during Black History Month, or in her American history or government or English classes.
We started talking about Audre Lorde, Octavia Butler, Angela Davis, Ida B. Wells and others—women who wrote or spoke themselves into history as a radical act of visibility; as a demand to be seen. And this, I think, is what taking your place in history means: using your own unique voice to unapologetically proclaim, Here I am. The anthology you hold in your hands wonderfully demonstrates just that.
Each of the stories in this collection are powerful declarations by the current class of Girls Write Now mentees. They use poetry and prose, personal essay and fiction, to write their truths into existence. Make no mistake, this is no easy thing. Writing in this way, laying out so many vulnerabilities, hopes and fears for others to read—it takes courage. But by doing so, these young writers are stepping into a powerful legacy of truth-tellers—the Audre Lordes and Octavia Butlers and [insert your favorite badass!]—who dared to do the same. Let us all find inspiration in these pages, then go out into the world and boldly, loudly, fearlessly take our place. These Girls Write Now mentees are leading the way.
Maya Millett is an independent nonfiction writer, editor, and audio producer, and the founder of Race Women, an archive research project honoring nineteenth century Black feminist trailblazers. Maya is also a Girls Write Now mentor alum and co-chair of the Girls Write Now anthology committee.