Authors and artists get this question all the time: who inspires you? Well, our young teen writers have been our inspiration from the start.
Our recently launched partnership with VIDA: Women in Literary Arts got us thinking about inspiration, your teen years, and that one book that changed it all. So, while we asked our mentees about what they were reading in school, we also started asking the incredible women in our community about the first book that changed their life.
We’re thrilled to share the first iteration of this Read Write Now list! Tell us, what book transformed your teen years?
MAYA NUSSBAUM, Founder & Executive Director of Girls Write Now: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
GLORIA STEINEM, feminist icon, author & activist: Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
LOIS LOWRY, author of The Giver: The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
JENNA BLUM, author of Those Who Save Us: Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
FARAI CHIDEYA, author of Kiss the Sky: Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor
TAYSHA CLARK, Girls Write Now Youth Board Co-Chair: The Madness Vase by Andrea Gibson
BRIDGETT M. DAVIS, author of Into the Go-Slow: Daddy Was a Number Runner by Louise Meriwether
Bridgett M. Davis & Louise Meriwether at our 2014 celebration of International Day of the Girl! Photo credit: Muneesh Jain
RACHEL FERSHLEISER, Author & Publisher Outreach at Tumblr: Forever… by Judy Blume
SARAH HEPOLA, Editor at Salon.com: The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton