WriteGirl Teens Take to the Stage at the LA Times Festival of Books

On April 20th and 21st, WriteGirl participated in the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books at the USC campus. At the WriteGirl booth, volunteers shared information about our program, sold anthologies, and encouraged visitors to participate in a creative writing activity with prompts like, "What do you do when there's a power outage?" and "Describe the scent of a place you remember from long ago." It was the only booth with brightly colored index cards hanging from strings all over, covered in creative writing.

Sunday afternoon, WriteGirl held a reading on the Hoy stage. Mentees read pieces from No Character Limit: Truth & Fiction from WriteGirl, along with new work they've produced this season. Some of the girls read work for the first time, while others have become seasoned performers.

In addition to the reading, special guest Elizabeth Espinosa of CNN Latino and KTLA was interviewed on stage by a WriteGirl mentee on her career path and advice for aspiring young journalists. She kindly stayed after the reading for an impromptu Q&A, where she shared writing tips and career advice with the girls, many of whom are interested in pursuing journalism.

Special thanks to the Festival of Books for hosting us, and to Elizabeth Espinosa for her participation.