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!
Universes, Drifting: A Temporal Haiku Collection
We capture little moments of friendship, revelation, beauty, and stillness while exploring the brief and transformative form of haikus.
Breathe In Breathe Out
Grab yourself a nice glass of water, settle into your comfiest seat, then breath in and breath out. In our final episode of A Fistful of Verse, Tara Lago grounds the listener into worlds where freedom, hope, & love prevail. Allow this episode to remind you about the miracle of breath.
Maatrbhaasha
To my family for showing me that love goes beyond the words we speak.
If Only I Could Speak
When you go from Thailand to North Carolina, more than the spoken language changes—the box you’re put in does as well.
Speaking on Love, Dance & Sexism
In this episode, Girls Write Now Community Manager Emily Rigby speaks with former mentee and current mentor Samantha Isales about her piece “An Uncommon Love Story.” Fall in love with this beautiful and riveting tale of Harlemites navigating revolutionary love and regressive sexism inspired by Samantha’s experiences of home, bell hooks, and late nights in the club.
Limericks on a New York Night
Poetry360 mentee Mia Lindenburg tells her story of leaving poetry and returning to it upon realizing slam poetry can also capture all the joy and wonder of the world.
Intentional
Friendship fallouts are the absolute worst. These breakups can consume you like an ocean as the tides of feelings and memories come in and out. Poetry360 mentee Megumi Jindo shares her experience with one of life’s greatest heartbreaks.
Speaking on Writing as Therapy
This week we're delighted to present Mentees Dom Dawes (he/they) and Jamilah Araf (she/her) as they chat about Dom's poem "I Am From."
Rewind
In momentum: a friend and all the lovely people who sadly aren't here. This is a piece about the grief and healing that comes with loss.
Yellow Lines
The melting of ice in lemonade. The feeling of watching yourself from the outside as reality begins to unfold. The moments that occur after impatience.
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.