MEMOIR RAITA, RAIBENA Lockdown
MEMOIR RAMIREZ, SARAH An Anxious Child of God
MEMOIR REYES, PILAR My Grandmother’s First Period
FICTION RINALDI, EMILY The Burgundy & Gold Stitched Chair
POETRY ROWE, JENNIFER For that girl
FICTION RUBIN, JULIA LYNN Mother
POETRY SALEH, DALEELAH The New National Anthem
MEMOIR SANTOS, MARIFER Between Worlds
FICTION SCHEINER, KATHLEEN The Quarry
MEMOIR SCHMIT, CAROLYN TO honour your roots
JOURNALISM SCHNEIDER, ASHLEY From Kindergarten to Generation F
MEMOIR SCHWIEGERSHAUSEN, ERICA Be Safe
MEMOIR SERLIN, JAMIE Ode to an aspiring author . . .
POETRY SHICKMANTER, MARGO Orbit
POETRY SHOPE, RACHEL From Ellis Island
MEMOIR SLON, MAEVE Snow That Grows
JOURNALISM SPENCER, LAUREN Two Sides to Every Story
MEMOIR STITES, LENNA Uses for Chewing Gum
MEMOIR STRICKLAND, HEATHER Faux Feminist
FICTION TARANNUM, TASNIM The Tale of the Wind Chimes and the Disgruntled Demoness
MEMOIR TAYLOR, JANIAH Anxiety’s Wildest Dreams
POETRY THOMAS, ELIZABETH Daylight Saving
POETRY TIGHE, MARYELLEN A Collection
MEMOIR ULU, NNEKA A Contemplation of Love
FICTION WALKER, LILY Fake (an excerpt)
FICTION WHELAN, MARIA Refraction
POETRY WILLIAMS, SHANAI Point A to Z; a map of me
POETRY WILLIG, ROBIN Poetic Forms and Dance Steps: A Sonnet
FICTION WOOD, ALIKAY The Proper Way to Shatter a Girl
POETRY YANG, KAITLYN Raindrops and Coffee
MEMOIR ZHANG, EN YU The Sky over Our Heads
MEMOIR ZIMMERMAN, AMY memory exercise
MEMOIR ZOLADZ, LINDSAY 85 White Street
Photo Credit: Michael Creagh
In the fall of 2017, I had the privilege of speaking with you—this year’s class of mentees from Girls Write Now, and the authors in this anthology. You were bright and rigorous. As I spoke of my journey to becoming a writer and the obstacles I overcame—familial pressure, going broke, stereotypes, and fear—you nodded, recognizing your own journey in mine. It was an honor to speak to you, and after the event, several of you asked me how I got the courage to do what I do. Like me, many of you experience pressure to conform to certain ways of being, whether from your families or from the people around you. Use the art of writing to figure out who you really are—and use the support of the extraordinary mentors at Girls Write Now to take all the creative risks you can.
Shyness. Fear. Shame. Humiliation. Sadness. Ridicule. Social pressure. These are all feelings that stop women from writing, especially young women. Generations of women have held back their real feelings and experiences for fear of what could happen should they speak their truths both large and small. Women’s interiority has historically been obscured by society’s expectations about what it means to be a woman.
Not anymore. You are Generation F—the latest generation of girls using words to speak truth to power, share your experiences, and change the world. After the 2016 election,