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.
Taking Our Place in History: The Girls Write Now 2020 Anthology
Stories from Inside "Taking Our Place in History" Coming Soon!
Stories from Inside "Taking Our Place in History" Coming Soon!
Dreams, Hopes, Forward, Forward
I want to dedicate this piece to the person I am becoming. The way forward for me feels inspiring and optimistic!
Runaway Girl
Writing this piece was an outlet for my internal and external struggles when things were at a low point in my home life. I figuratively escaped by writing something that closely resonated with what I was feeling at that time.
A Gathering Storm
I wrote this piece as a 200-word exercise but ended up liking it enough to continue it. Like it or not, here goes…
The Climate Crisis Needs A Story
I first joined the New York City Climate Strike Coalition in July 2019. In the company of such impassioned, optimistic youth activists, I quickly realized that the climate crisis is not about numbers. It is a human story, with a human solution.
Goodbye Berlin
My family’s suffering in Russia, Poland, and Germany during World War II prompted me to reflect on the values of courage, perseverance, hope, and the price of war. My great-grandmother’s ordeal in occupied Russia during the Battle of Stalingrad inspired this story, about a single mother’s sacrifice amid the inferno of war.
Broken Glass/Not Yet Formed
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about being myself—and what that means for me as a young woman. I wanted to write something that reflected being free in my ability to dream and imagine any life for myself as a girl in the twenty-first century.
The Girl Who Speaks Millions of Languages
This piece is about a girl who can talk to animals and is meant to show how she struggles to find her identity.
Those Who Came Before
This short story is inspired by Mohsin Hamid’s novel Exit West. For Lana, the protagonist, taking her place in history means being the person who studies and gives a voice to the stories of those silenced.
A Snapshot in Time
“A Snapshot in Time” is a story about June, a teenager, who bonds with her grandmother and learns how far her love reaches.
LET’S PLAY AROUND: A game of sleep paralysis
Sleep paralysis has been envisioned in art since as early as the 1700s, when it was described as a demonic visitation. But the fear it represents cannot play with women, because we are powerful and control our own dreams.
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.