Written by Brandy age 14 and Monica age 16
WriteGirl Interns
Lydia Davis is considered one of the most original minds in American fiction today. Aside from being a novelist and an essayist, her short stories offer the element of surprise and grasp your attention in one whole swoop.
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You might not realize it yet, but it’s true. Here are some writing tips for unleashing your inner Maya Angelou.
Read MoreIt's time for our annual Poetry Drive! We'll be sharing original poetry written by our teen girls. Today, a poem about bravery...
… written by one of our talented and wonderfully unique WriteGirl teens! Want a custom poem? Get a girl power-themed poem for your favorite niece, or a go-get-'em poem for that recent grad.
Read MoreBlog post for Women’s History Month written by WriteGirl mentee Jackie, 12th grade.
Ever since I can remember, I’ve always wanted to travel around the world. But not in the usual sense: I didn’t dream of five-star hotels or hyped-up restaurants. I wanted to be in the midst of it: to take in the culture and really connect with the people of that specific country. And Christiane Amanpour represented that dream for me.
Read MoreBlog post for Women’s History Month written by WriteGirl mentee Amanda, Age 16.
“They thought that the bullet would silence us, but they failed. The terrorists thought that they would change my aims and stop my ambitions, but nothing changed in my life, except this: weakness, fear and hopelessness died. Strength, power and courage was born.”
If you aren’t acquainted with the speaker of these fiery words, the wise, 16-year-old Pakistani teen cloaked in vibrant hijabs and shawls of courage, then I am glad to introduce you. Malala Yousafzai, who, in 2012, was shot point blank in the head on her school bus by the Taliban for standing up for her right to education, was never weakened by the violent attack against her. If anything, the shooting empowered her.
Read MoreEssay written by WriteGirl mentee Janel, 12th grade:
Three years ago, if anyone had asked me to read my poetry aloud in front of an audience, I would have laughed and politely declined. I was hardly comfortable sharing my written work with others, let alone getting up on a stage and performing the poetry I had scribbled into my journal and tucked away for safekeeping.
This all changed when I joined WriteGirl.
The WriteGirl Poetry Workshop successfully used a creative atmosphere, encouragement from mentors, and special guest presenters to empower young girls to write different types of poetry. Over 60 teen girls explored the art of crafting poems as they learned about stanzas, rhyming, forms and techniques.
Read MoreAt the annual WriteGirl Skylight Books public reading on Saturday, February 15, approximately 20 teen girls bravely stepped up to the podium to read from their journals and WriteGirl's 12th anthology, "YOU ARE HERE: The WriteGirl Journey." A captivated crowd heard poems, essays, and short story excerpts about everything from love and self-identity to heartache and the color purple.
Read MoreOn Saturday, January 25, over 100 WriteGirl mentors and mentees got an intimate view of the La Brea Tar Pits and Page Museum during the Creative Non-Fiction Flash Workshop. This two-hour workshop explored many different types of creative nonfiction writing, including personal essays, memoirs, blogging, and literary journalism.
Read MoreCarly Pandza (mentor, 25) and Zoe C. (mentee, 18) have been a mentor/mentee pair with WriteGirl since February 2012. They meet once a week and at monthly genre-specific writing workshops. They meet for about an hour and do all sorts of writing from poetry to short stories.
In honor of National Mentoring Month, they decided to interview one another about their personal experiences and opinions as writers and as a mentor/mentee pair. This is their interview.
Read MoreIf life were a straight line, it would be easy to stay on course. But life is full of twists and turns and unexpected bumps.
In YOU ARE HERE: The WriteGirl Journey, 161 women and girls share their stories as they navigate their way through small moments and big adventures. In clear and unwavering voices, they tell us about where they are, where they’ve been and where they still hope to go.
Read MoreEssay by Jacqueline Uy:
"Back in elementary school, there was always that one kid who, when asked what they wanted to be when they grew up, would say, 'I want to be president.' That kid was me.
But as I got older I realized that what I really wanted to become was a journalist, specifically a foreign correspondent. Even with this, I never really thought that I would ever step foot in the White House, much less meet first lady Michelle Obama. So when the opportunity to do both arose, I reacted like any normal 16-year-old in my situation: I didn’t believe it."
Read MoreHeld at the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy in Downtown Los Angeles, 160 WriteGirl women and girls learned the art of songwriting from the industry’s best women!
Special songwriter guests including Bonnie McKee (Wrecking Ball, Roar), Allee Willis (Boogie Wonderland, Friends Theme), and others shared their expertise and guided our girls to create their own songs.
Read MoreBlog post written by WriteGirl Mentee Amanda, 11th grade:
"A year ago, Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani teenage girl, was shot by the Taliban for standing up for girls' education, and, against all odds, she survived. Malala’s story sparked a fire that burns across my horizons with the plum passion of a dragon hearth and tenderness of a soft lighted candle."
Read MoreFor the past nine months, our girls have taken part in a jam-packed schedule filled with creative writing workshops, led by some of the most influential female writers in the community. With the guidance of these spectacular writers, our girls put their pens to the page and wrote songs, poems, short stories, and scenes. They blogged, they polished their public speaking skills, and they wrote custom Father’s Day poems for our WriteOn! Campaign. They expressed themselves creatively, and formed special bonds with their mentors through weekly meetings.
Read MoreWriteGirl was honored by First Lady Michelle Obama with the National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award
An initiative of the President’s Committee on the Arts & the Humanities (PCAH). The President’s Committee partners with the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to administer the program.
WriteGirl is a creative writing and mentoring organization that promotes creativity, critical thinking and leadership skills to empower teen girls.
WriteGirl is a project of Community Partners, a nonprofit charity exempt from federal income tax under
Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
