Praise for
CTRL + B: The Girls Write Now 2019 Anthology

“This anthology is a window into the future. The bold, insistent voices of these young women stay with you long after you’ve left the page and one day their words are sure to shape the future of writing.”

— CAMILLE ACKER, author of Training School for Negro Girls

“To lead the world to justice and hope, we must empower a generation of young women to speak with authority and write their truth. Girls Write Now is making that happen—one girl at a time.”

— LAURIE HALSE ANDERSON, author of SHOUT

“For more than twenty years, Girls Write Now has enabled young women to become the narrators of their own lives—and to translate experience into story into power. It’s a mighty transformation—and the voices in this collection remind us to listen up.”

— JENNIFER BAUMGARDNER, publisher, Dottir Press

“I was both touched and inspired by the bold voices of the young women in this anthology, which we need now more than ever. The breadth and depth of the stories are as astounding as they are empowering. Each piece is an unforgettable account of what it means to be bold and in control.”

— NICOLE DENNIS-BENN, author of Patsy

“Writing saved my life—and I’m so excited to support Girls Write Now in giving the tools of language and storytelling to underserved young women.”

— EVA HAGBERG FISHER, author of How to Be Loved

“If a word after a word after a word is power, so is a girl after a girl after a girl with pen in hand. This anthology inspires and embodies hope; Girls Write Now shows us hope has teeth.”

— SALLY FRANSON, author of A Lady’s Guide to Selling Out

“How thrilling to hear the voices of young women in the process of becoming, to be invited to listen as they begin to articulate their singular vision—mining their inner experiences and rendering them in lucid and startlingly honest prose, and taking seriously their own lives as worthy subject matter as they reshape the world with their writing. Girls Write Now is a profound and necessary project and I look forward to the future bodies of work it will embolden these writers to create.”

— ANNA GODBERSEN, New York Times–bestselling author of The Luxe

“Young women will never forget this moment we are living through. How could they? So I’m grateful to do my small part in helping as many as possible connect to the urgency of their stories. They will transform us, these women, and I, for one, cannot wait for it.”

— MIRA JACOB, author of Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations

“Chronicling our experiences is the first step to ownership of them. These young women are bravely and fiercely staking out the territory of their own lives with language to give shape, voice, and name to what it is to be female—and human—right now.”

— NICOLA KRAUS, co-author of The Nanny Diaries

“When I name myself, I become myself. In these pages, girls name themselves, their worlds, their wishes, their pain, and their heart’s finest joys. Right here, girls become their true selves.”

— MIN JIN LEE, author of Free Food for Millionaires and Pachinko

“Without mentors like my mother, my aunt, and others, my relationship with the written word would not have crystallized or grown into what it is today. I owe everything to my childhood mentors for introducing me to writing and the arts as both rehabilitation, and a way to seize and exist in my power. Girls Write Now champions writing and mentorship as a path to individual and collective power, and for that I am in awe of their work and mission.”

— WAYÉTU MOORE, author of She Would Be King

“What a treat Girls Write Now has been to me as a reader. It connects generations that are usually divided, and it encourages and showcases truth-telling. Barriers are overcome, courage is celebrated, gifts of language bud and bloom. I love the idea that these girls will become our future great writers and leaders.”

— ALICIA OSTRIKER, New York State Poet Laureate

“The stories we tell ourselves can limit us, or blow worlds wide open. Girls Write Now gives young women the power to tell their stories powerfully, and in doing so, helps them lay claim to their lives.”

— JOANNE RAMOS, author of The Farm

“Now more than ever, the voices of girls need to be heard. Girls Write Now showcases the vision and talent of young women changing and being changed by our world. Reading their stories will fill you with inspiration, pleasure, and hope.”

— HELEN KLEIN ROSS, author of The Latecomers

“Girls Write Now has become one of the most important organizations for teenage girls in America and a most powerful bridge between what can be imagined to what will be created, and flourish, out of imagination.”

— AMBER TAMBLYN, author of Any Man and Era of Ignition

“It is an astonishing, life-changing thing to come into the knowledge, as a girl, that your mind matters and that your voice is valuable. Girls Write Now is an irreplaceable organization, capturing this alchemy in every piece and every relationship it facilitates and creates.”

—JIA TOLENTINO, author of Trick Mirror

“Girls Write Now provides a space for girls to be seen, heard, and validated. This collection is an extension of that space. Here, we are called in to listen to what young women have to say, to take in their truths, to bear witness. These powerful, poignant pieces are a reminder of how sacred the written word is, of how necessary it is for women to reclaim space, to speak.”

— RENÉE WATSON, author of Piecing Me Together

“A testament to the transformative power of storytelling, the Girls Write Now anthology is a shining example of what happens when women and girls join forces to amplify their voices and own their truth.”

—JAMIA WILSON, author of Young, Gifted and Black, and executive director of the Feminist Press