August 31, 2022
PBS Newshour Classroom
Mentee Ilana Drake, who has been part of Girls Write Now for five years, wrote a review of Taking Root: The 2022 Girls Write Now Anthology for PBS Newshour Classroom.
Each year, Girls Write Now publishes an anthology written by its mentees. Over the past four years, I have reviewed the anthology in wonder, reading over the work of my peers and reflecting on the varied stories we share.
ILANA DRAKE
Taking Root: The Girls Write Now 2022 Anthology
For more than two years, our young writers have weathered an adolescence shaped by an ongoing global pandemic. But a harsh climate can also produce work of rare depth, complexity, nuance and humor. The Girls Write Now mentees in this collection have found new ways to build community and take root. This anthology is a catalog of seeds—each young writer cultivating a shimmering, emergent voice. In short stories, personal essays, poetry, and more, they reflect on life-altering topics like heartbreak, self-care and friendship. The result is a stunning book with global relevance of all this generation has endured and transformed.