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 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.
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.