—ANDREA DAVIS PINKNEY, New York Times–bestselling author of The Red Pencil
“Hearing someone start to find her voice is thrilling. I want to be there as these girls do just that, then stand back as their voices grow stronger and stronger until they’re unstoppable.”
—KAYLEEN SCHAEFER, author of Text Me When You Get Home: The Evolution and Triumph of Modern Female Friendship
“Writing is a powerful act that lets the writer articulate her thoughts and feelings directly, fluently, openly, and originally; and in doing so, the writer forges a connection with that other important half of the equation: the reader. These young writers are working hard every day to describe their inner lives and take them outward; to forge that essential, beautiful connection.”
—MEG WOLITZER, author of The Female Persuasion
“These young girls are the real visionaries of tomorrow and we are beyond lucky to read their stories today.”
—JENNY ZHANG, author of Sour Heart
Copyright © 2018 by Girls Write Now, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, digital scanning, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. Any requests for using, reproducing, storing, or transmitting by any means of this work should be directed to Girls Write Now, 247 West 37th Street, Suite 1000, New York, NY 10018, Attn: Copyright Request.
Published 2018
E-ISBN: 9781936932528
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018903004
Cover design by Kaitlin Kall
For information, write to:
Girls Write Now, Inc.
247 West 37th Street, Suite 1000
New York, NY 10018
Photo Credit: Joe Rodriguez
Before I sold a book, wrote an essay, or even knew I wanted to be a writer, I was defiant. As a toddler, when I did not want to be held, I would not be held. In fact, when an adult would try to hold me, I would head-butt them until they let me go. When my mother, at her wits’ end with my antics, would attempt to tame me by strapping me into my car seat, I would rock back and forth until the seat tipped all the way forward. Then I would walk around with the whole contraption on my back, continuing my path of destruction through whoever’s home I happened to be in at the time. My grandmother started to call me “Turtle” because she thought the car seat on my back looked like a tortoise shell. She would smile when she’d tell me these tales.
“Ashley, you never liked doing what you were told. I guess you just knew yourself.”
My grandmother was right. Few people like being told what to do, but it went deeper than that for me. I didn’t like being told I didn’t know my own mind. I didn’t want anyone else feeling as though they had a right to touch me if I didn’t want to be touched. And most important, I knew all my goals, dreams, and desires lived somewhere inside me that only I had access to. So when the adults in my life encouraged me to play it safe, I continued to resist them. I majored in English even when I was told I’d never make a living with that degree. I moved to Brooklyn with two bags, $400, and no permanent place to live. I started writing my opinions, first hesitantly, then with all the defiant fury I hadn’t been allowed to express until then.
But that was only the beginning.
Almost one year to the day after moving to New York, I got to meet several young women through Girls Write Now. They were brilliant and creative. They read stories that lingered in my mind for months, and asked questions I hadn’t even thought to ask myself. One young woman spoke of her mother, who had encouraged her to write the feelings she couldn’t yet speak. Still, she found the courage to read her story aloud before us all, and in her eyes I saw something familiar: defiance. Not the kind of defiance that takes the place of what you can’t or won’t say, but the kind that allows you to say exactly what you mean. She’d found strength in her words, and I found inspiration in her.
Girls Write Now has put together a book of the young women who have something to say. The same young women we all are or have been before. I am so excited for you to find yourself in the pages of this book. We’re all here, in every word, and in every story, connected by the inherent defiance of girlhood. Enjoy it.
Xo,
ASHLEY C. FORD lives and works in Brooklyn by way of Indiana, hosts a local news-and-culture show called 112BK, and is currently writing her memoir, Somebody’s Daughter.
THE GIRLS WRITE NOW 2018 ANTHOLOGY
Fabulous. Ferocious. Fragile. Fresh. Female. Generation F is all of these things and more. It is anything and everything we want it to be. That freedom, that unlimited potential, is what Girls Write Now stands for and offers to its participants. These girls have the world at their fingertips and they dig in, examining their own lives, the state of their neighborhoods, and everything going on today while marching unafraid into the future and all it promises.
The sun streamed through the large windows that lined the Girls Write Now office on September 24, 2016, the day I first met my mentee. Kimberley was a soft-spoken, polite girl with long, dark hair and an air of hesitation. Neither of us knew that day what was to come, but I was hopeful. We began chatting in the room packed with other fresh or returning mentor–mentee pairs, the goals and ideas of these women and girls reverberating in the air. Kimberley said she loved dark fantasy and we agreed that we both appreciated constructive criticism. Each pair strung beads of different colors, signifying a different Girls Write Now value, on a string in order of importance. Kimberley’s hesitation dropped away as we ordered the beads, and I thought, This girl has opinions and isn’t afraid to share them. I liked that.
Kimberley writes dark fantasy about human girls crossing into magical lands, but there is so much more to her work. She also writes essays about yearning to travel and her relationships with family and friends, and poems about experiencing womanhood and the inner lives of dolls. In the Girls Write Now workshops, she and other mentees learn about and write magical realism, plays, intergenerational memoir, and more.
We come, mentors and mentees alike, to Girls Write Now because we want to learn, grow, and share as writers. We come for the community we