Opening Lines: The 2011 Girls Write Now Anthology is now available on Amazon.
The 2011 curriculum at Girls Write Now is organized around the idea of Opening Lines, and each chapter of this volume welcomes us with the first line of a mentee’s piece written this season.
FROM THE INTRODUCTION:
“We see an opening line as an invitation to another world, to a new perspective. “Will you come with me?” the line asks. This is what we ask of you — share our journey. Inspired by this concept as both mentors and editors, the members of the Anthology Committee challenged each other to reconsider the genre-based structure of our annual book, to open up the possibility of understanding our community in an entirely new way. What emerges in our weekly pair sessions, our monthly group workshops, and our public reading series?”
FROM THE FOREWORD:
“In every workshop, the girls — knowing they were safe and respected — expressed their thoughts with candor and bravery, logging them in lyrics, poems, and powerful prose. And with each workshop, I saw girls who started the year whispering, hiding behind hair, or literally shrinking into themselves with hunched shoulders and bowed heads project a little more clearly, push strands from their face so they could see and be seen, and stand tall as they spoke.” – Nana Brew-Hammond
FROM OPENING LINES:
“I felt alive on the six-story rooftop of my abuela’s Harlem apartment building. It was summer and though there was no sun, I felt the night seeping through my pores, igniting wave after wave of pure heat through my bones. The rich texture of the Dominican language from the streets below like an angel’s harp to my ears. The blasting of bachata from the adjacent building causing vibrations to mix a new life inside of my very skin, expanding my vibrant mocha to a caramel brown.” — ChanTareya Paredes