ANTHOLOGIES
Taking Our Place in History: The Girls Write Now 2020 Anthology
Girls Write Now is thrilled to be in partnership with Dutton, who produced this year’s anthology. A special thanks to the team at Dutton—Christine Ball,Maya Ziv,Marya Pasciuto and Hannah Feeney, and to Feminist Press and Jamia Wilson, who produced the e-book. Thank you as well to Amazon Literary Partnership for their continued support and for recognizing Girls Write Now as a 2020 grant recipient, which directly funds the production of our anthologies.

The Girls Write Now 2020 class of mentees are using their voices for change in one of the most uncertain periods of modern history. This book invites you into their homes and families, their schools and neighborhoods, their hearts, hopes, and fears. Enter a world where clay creatures take on aluminum oppressors. Get thrown against an elevator wall in the midst of a horror story. Go backstage with a rock band, say goodbye to relatives as you start a new life, stand with an engineer solving a coding problem. Stare out from a coffin—or up at whales in the sky—and fall in love with the color of your skin. Experience tragedy in a mosque, feel the wounds of slavery, know the terror of glass shattering in a World War II village, and see how this next generation of leaders look to the past and write their present to create a better future.
Introduction by
With a Poem 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 "Taking Our Place in History" Coming Soon!
Stories from Inside "Taking Our Place in History" Coming Soon!
The King of Hearts
The King of Hearts is random from a deck of cards where truly the title is meaningless but the poem somehow makes it seem relevant.
Scary Things/Midsummer
These pieces explore my ideas on love, loss, and emotional validation. They're the products of a girl who got lost inside her own head for too long.
Full House (with the K.M.A)
My family and the K.M.A are as tight as sticky labels on glass bottles: they’re hard to separate, but they often look better together.
I’m Happy
A piece that has been waiting too long to say what needed to be said, out loud and to the world. Regardless of everything that has happened this year, I’m happy to be alive!
Forever Queens/ The End of the N
We wrote two poems about our relationship to our residing borough, Queens. (Lilly is a lifelong native and Toni moved to Astoria five years ago.)
Night Swimming at Summer Camp in New Hampshire
The girls swim in the lake at summer camp. It is the only place around them that is cool.
palatable
"palatable" is a product of my experiences as a young black girl at a predominantly white school. Particularly, it’s my examination of the concept of palatability, and what it means to prepare yourself for consumption.
A Tale of Two Grandmothers
A Tale of Two Grandmothers By Lena DiBiasio & Hayley Altman Two grandmothers meet and form a close bond, only
Butterfly 蝴蝶
“Butterfly 蝴蝶” is an ode to my great-grandmother, who passed away a few years ago. On occasion, the butterfly of her spirit still flies by.
things i couldn’t tell you: pieces from an incomplete love story
A series of poems offer a small window into a passionate and debilitating relationship, of which our narrator discloses the intricacies and afflictions of the love she endured.
Taking Our Places in History
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.