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
Girls Write Now On the Other Side of Everything: The 2023 Anthology
Do you know what it’s like to communicate with your family across a salty ocean’s divide? Do you want the sun and moon to enter your home with stories written in embers? Do you seek voices that will punctuate the darkness? Welcome to the other side of everything. It’s the other side of silence, the other side of childhood, the other side of hate, the other side of indifference, it’s the other side of sides, where the binary breaks down. It’s a new paradigm, a destination, a different perspective, a mindset, a state of openness, the space between the endless folds in your forehead, hopes for tomorrow, and reflections on the past. This anthology of diverse voices is an everything bagel of literary genres and love songs, secrets whispered in the dark of night, conversations held with ancestors under the sea.