This blog post was written by Molly MacDermot, Senior Communications Advisor and Editor. Read the full press release. Check out stories featured in Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, New York Magazine and more.
Lena Dunham, star and creator of HBO’s GIRLS and co-founder of LENNY, surprised her fans — and Girls Write Now — with the flash-release of her new book, Is It Evil Not To Be Sure? at 6 a.m. today on LennyLetter.com. In the spirit of women helping women, Lena announced that all profits from Is It Evil Not To Be Sure? will go to Girls Write Now. The sole purpose of this project is to support the work of Girls Write Now, which is devoted to mentoring young women writers.
In honor of this partnership, the Girls Write Now community is mobilizing to match Lena’s generous gift. At noon today, purchase your book for $25 here. Hurry — a limited print run Lena’s newest book will sell out fast! Or make a $25 gift directly to Girls Write Now — let’s show Lena our community can match her generosity.
“Girls Write Now gives young women an incredible gift: the chance to tell their own stories and become, in Nora Ephron’s words, the protagonists of their own lives. I was lucky enough to go to schools where writing was a cherished skill, encouraged and nurtured.
It’s so important that young women are told this is a valid form of expression, that their voices are worth celebrating and that they have within them the tools to create a new narrative. Girls Write Now is a gift not just to the young women it serves but to the rest of us who will become their devoted readers.” – LENA DUNHAM
Lena, who is signing 2,000 copies of the limited run, says the book is a condensed selection of her journals from 2005/2006. “It’s meant to give young women a sense of the power and importance of recording their own stories (even if their own stories involve napping excessively and being publicly humiliated by boys who don’t deserve your attention),” Lena says.
The timing of its release coincides with Girls Write Now’s annual Awards, with this year’s honorees including Lena Dunham’s creative partner, Jenni Konner, who works alongside Lena as an executive producer, co-writer, and showrunner of HBO’s Girls and LennyLetter.com, which is being turned into an imprint with Random House.
“Lena and Jenni, and their creations, are the result of talent, risk-taking, and devout mentorship from generations before them. The Girls Write Now model is based on these principles, and we are thrilled to partner with such groundbreaking writers and artists.”
— MAYA NUSSBAUM, Founder & Executive Director
Lena hand-picked a passage from the book for a debut performance at the Girls Write Now Awards. This piece will be read to a sold-out crowd, where Girls Write Now mentee Kirby-Estar Laguerre is co-emceeing with Fusion special correspondent Alicia Menendez. Also in attendance are honorees Janet Mock, the TV host and bestselling author of Redefining Realness and the forthcoming Firsts: A Memoir of the Twenties Experience, and John Osborn, CEO and President of BBDO, New York, creators of the new Barbie campaign “Imagine the Possibilities.”
A huge thank you to Lena and all the love she has given us: