Girls Write Now is thrilled to partner with Tin House and author and illustrator Forsyth Harmon for a fundraiser celebrating the launch of Justine. Forsyth’s debut novel—which O, The Oprah Magazine called an “LGBTQ Book That Will Change The Literary Landscape in 2021”—launches on Tuesday, March 2, 2021. Starting today, when you purchase artwork prints from the book on Forsyth’s site, all proceeds benefit Girls Write Now.
A few words from Forsyth on the initiative: “For more than 20 years, Girls Write Now has given young women the skills and support they need to find and cultivate one of their greatest gifts: their own voices. Through writing and mentorship programs, Girls Write Now empowers young women—90% of color, 70% immigrant or first generation, 25% LGBTQ+ or gender nonconforming and more than 90% high need—to share their stories, changing the trajectories of their lives…and, as their readers, ours.
“My illustrated novel Justine‘s narrator, Ali, is a young woman who needs Girls Write Now. Because she struggles to put her story into words, I use illustrations to illuminate her interior. These images emote for Ali: empty shopping carts express her feelings of emptiness; a cassette tape unravels with a confusing intimate experience; a butterfly spreads its wings as she warms to a new friend. I’m honored to share these illustrations with you as prints to benefit an organization that elevates young women like Ali.”
Forsyth Harmon is the author and illustrator of the forthcoming novel of Justine (Tin House, 2021), which is available for preorder now and debuts on Tuesday, March 2. She is also the illustrator of Girlhood by Melissa Febos and The Art of the Affair by Catherine Lacey. She has also collaborated with writers Alexander Chee, Hermione Hoby, Sanaë Lemoine and Leslie Jamison. Forsyth’s work has been featured in The Believer, Tin House, Virginia Quarterly Review and The Awl. She received an MFA from Columbia University and currently lives in New York.