June is Pride Month, and we are proud to celebrate the full spectrums of gender and sexuality within our community and beyond.
Stay True
Sometimes being yourself can be an act of bravery. For Pride Month, Girls Write Now present “Stay True” a collection of memoir and fiction that celebrates the LGBTQIA community with stories of love and self-acceptance.
COLLECTION CURATED BY MORAYO FALEYIMU. FEATURED ART DESIGNED BY MORAYO FALEYIMU.
May is Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month and Jewish American Heritage Month. It is also Mental Health Awareness Month. We are grateful to our community for sharing their stories.
Brighter Days: A Mental Health Awareness Collection
Mental Health Awareness Month reminds us that our minds deserve as much care as our bodies. In the multimedia collection “Brighter Days” Girls Write Now writers and artists take us on a journey of introspection. Through writing, talk, and relationship, these young writers learn to carve a path through anxiety and depression.
COLLECTION CURATED BY MORAYO FALEYIMU. FEATURED ART DESIGNED BY MORAYO FALEYIMU.
What We Inherit: A Jewish-American Collection
We are made up of those who came before us. Our inheritance may be easy to note: a common family name, or a familiar creative temperment; or it may be more subtle: how or when we say goodbye or where we place our shoes when we come inside on a rainy day. In honor of Jewish American Heritage Month, Girls Write Now presents “What We Inherit”, a collection of memoirs that stitches yesterday to today.
COLLECTION CURATED BY VAHNI KURRA AND MORAYO FALEYIMU. FEATURED ART DESIGNED BY MORAYO FALEYIMU.
Looking Both Ways: An Asian-American Heritage Collection
To be Asian and American is to travel between two different worlds, each with its own way of being. Some move fluidly between the two, owning both identities with ease, while others strive to forge a new self that contains the best of both.
In honor of Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month we present, “Looking Both Ways” a collection of pieces that explores the complexity of being Asian-American in today’s world.
COLLECTION CURATED BY MORAYO FALEYIMU. FEATURED ART DESIGNED BY MORAYO FALEYIMU.
During Teacher Appreciation Week, we express radical gratitude for our teachers, staff, and facilitators.
We continue the celebration of our 25th anniversary honoring April as National Poetry Month.
Twice Known: A Pair Poetry Collection
In honor of National Poetry Month, we are proud to present “Twice Known” a collection of poems co-written by our mentees and their mentors. From ruminations on age and loss to experimental coded poetry, each piece showcases a unique aspect of what makes the pair rlationship so special. Connection is at the heart of our work, and these poems are a rich testament to what can be created when we are known to each other.
COLLECTION CURATED BY MORAYO FALEYIMU. FEATURED ART DESIGNED BY MORAYO FALEYIMU.
March is Women’s History Month. We are honored to support and uplift the voices of young women and gender-expansive youth.
Thicker Than Water: Stories of Sisterhood
The bonds of sisterhood are elastic and vibrant; they endure across time and space. The collection “Thicker Than Water: Stories of Sisterhood” chronicles the beautiful moments of connections between the chosen sisters we call family.
COLLECTION CURATED BY MORAYO FALEYIMU. FEATURED ART DESIGNED BY KATHRYN DESTIN.
Beyond the Binary
Girls Write Now marks Women’s History Month with “Beyond the Binary,” a collection of intimate pieces that interrogate and blur the traditional boundaries of gender. Our organization celebrates the young women and gender-expansive writers that make up our community. We are all the richer for their powerful words and voices.
COLLECTION CURATED BY MORAYO FALEYIMU. FEATURED ART DESIGNED BY KATHRYN DESTIN.
February is Black History Month. This month, and all year round, we are proud to share stories and events from our community and our partners that honor Black joy, art, writing, culture and history.
On Crowns and Glory
Acclaimed writer James Baldwin once wrote, “Our crowns have already been bought and paid for. All we have to do is wear it.” While his words spoken\ to the in-born dignity of African-Americans, we used them as the inspiration to explore another crown — the hair we wear upon our head. In our Black History month collection, “On Crowns and Glory” our writers chronicle the rich relationship they’ve had with their own hair and how this exploration fits into a larger cultural narrative about Black hair. Ranging from curious to joyful and reflective, these takes join a vibrant conversation about what it means to wear the crown.
COLLECTION CURATED BY MORAYO FALEYIMU. FEATURED ART DESIGNED BY MORAYO FALEYIMU.
January is National Mentoring Month, and we begin our 25th anniversary by expressing radical gratitude to the talented and dedicated mentors of Girls Write Now whose contributions make possible two and a half decades of transformative stories.
In 2024, we celebrate 25 years of transformative stories, as we write our way to wellness and expand our reach nationwide. In all that we do, radical gratitude is a lens through which we can choose to see the world, amplifying sparks of joy and beauty in everyday life, even moments of great pain and loss. It is a radical act to use stories to combat hopelessness, cynicism, and despair. At Girls Write Now, this is how we make sense of the world around us.
We write bolstered by a support system designed for mentors to help navigate the twists and turns of coming of age in a world full of disease, war, stunning supreme court rulings, and all that gets hurled at us every day. National Mentoring Month recognizes the life-changing impact of mentoring that Girls Write Now has proudly catalyzed for 25 years.
Mentee Karina Itzel says of her time at Girls Write Now, “My most rewarding experience was meeting my mentor Ellen. She’s been super encouraging and helpful during a year that’s been filled with a lot of change and uncertainty.”
Mentor and mentee alum Antonia Bruno, who now works as an Assistant Deputy Public Defender, says “I did Girls Write Now throughout high school. I was very excited to be a mentor and be able to give that experience to someone else.” Her mentee since 2021, Nishat Raihana, says, “I genuinely see Antonia as more than a mentor. I see her as a friend.”
These are representative of Girls Write Now’s countless testimonials on the power of mentoring to shape a young person’s trajectory—our mentees have gone on to publish books, win prestigious awards, and interview inspiring celebrities.
Girls Write Now is indebted to our mentors—the lifeblood of our community—and we remain committed to supporting them for the next 25 years to come.
Nishat & Antonia
Antonia (left) and Nishat (right) have been a pair since 2021. Antonia, a current mentor and mentee alum who now works as an Assistant Deputy Public Defender, says “I did Girls Write Now throughout high school. I was very excited to be a mentor and be able to give that experience to someone else.”
Mentee Nishat says, “I genuinely see Antonia as more than a mentor. I see her as a friend.”
Karina & Ellen
Mentee alum Karina (right) says, “My most rewarding experience was meeting my mentor Ellen. She’s been super encouraging and helpful during a year that’s been filled with a lot of change and uncertainty.”
Ellen (left), mentor alum and Board Chair, says, “Every time I saw my mentee Karina’s face light up with newfound understanding, or witness her overcome a hurdle she once deemed insurmountable, I was reminded of the incredible potential that lies within each Girls Write Now mentee.”
Tuhfa & Josleen
“Our relationship was really the center of my entire Girls Write Now experience,” says mentee alum Tuhfa (right) about her time with her mentor Josleen (left). Now a Law Graduate, NYC Legal Services, Tuhfa recalls the time she spent at Girls Write Now and with Josleen as instrumental in her growth as a writer.
Read more about Josleen’s long-term commitment to Girls Write Now here.
Girls Write Now 25th Anniversary
Radical Gratitude Community Celebration
A Thank You To Our Community for
25 Years of Transformative Stories
Featuring Poetry 360 Performances & Podcasts.
Live on the Stavros Niarchos Rooftop Terrace
Friday, April 12 at The New York Public Library
455 Fifth Avenue
What Does Mentorship Mean To Our Mentees?
Radical Gratitude Story Collection
The new year offers us the opportunity to begin again, where we are, as we are. Our 2024 January collection “Radical Gratitude” was curated with this belief in mind. In each intimate piece, our writers give thanks for the highs and lows of the past and resolve to be thankful for what they have.
COLLECTION CURATED BY MORAYO FALEYIMU. FEATURED ART DESIGNED BY VAHNI KURRA.
Girls Write Now On The Art Of The Craft
A Guidebook To Collaborative Storytelling
Buy our new book out April 23 with HarperOne!
A writing companion, inspirational guide to the craft, and anthology featuring outstanding essays from the acclaimed nonprofit mentoring organization on its twenty-fifth anniversary helping underserved youth find their voice.