In the News
 ARTICLE FROM ascap.com: WriteGirl Brings Together Teens and ASCAP Songwriters
Imagine being in high school and hearing your lyrics performed at Walt Disney Concert Hall. Nearly 100 teen girls experienced just that at WriteGirl's 12th Annual Songwriting Workshop, held Saturday, February 9th and supported by ASCAP and The ASCAP Foundation. Read article
ARTICLE FROM KCET.ORG: Keren Taylor: Right Place, WriteGirl
On WriteGirl, finding your tribe, exploring Los Angeles, experiencing earthquakes, and smelling jasmine: stories from WriteGirl's founder Keren Taylor. Read article
Reviews of No Character Limit: Truth and Fiction from WriteGirl
GREAT READS FOR WINTER 2013
No Character Limit: Truth & Fiction from WriteGirl | WriteGirl Publications
The 11th anthology from WriteGirl, which promotes creative thinking for young girls' empowerment, showcases work by the girls and their mentors that explore universal feelings about friendship, family and adolescence.
 January 2013
TAYLOR, Keren, ed.
No Character Limit: Truth and Fiction from WriteGirl.
292p. illus. WriteGirl.
Jan. 2013. $19.99. ISBN 978-0-9837081-1-7.
This collection of short stories, poems, and essays is the product of a writing and mentoring organization in Los Angeles. Founded in 2001, WriteGirl provides a supportive channel for teen girls to express themselves through creative writing. Professional writers, who contribute to the anthology as well, act as mentors to help the girls find their voices and to improve their communication skills. The selections cover a variety of topics, and most contributions include a brief introduction by the authors about the source of their inspiration. Some subjects are joyful, such as those about favorite childhood memories, waffles, or New Orleans jazz. Other topics-such as broken romances, fading friendships, or repeatedly changing schools-reflect the writers' pain and determination to get through tough times. The creative process is clearly cathartic for the teens and mentors, acting both as an outlet and as a tool to help them make better sense of the world around them. Adolescents reading this anthology will recognize themselves in the words. WriteGirl authors also offer practical advice to fellow writers, such as "Do not delete any work. You will regret the decision later." Aspiring wordsmiths can use the works as models for their own writing or try their turn at the various exercises in the book. Readers who enjoy this collection will want to discover previously published WriteGirl anthologies.
by Sherry J. Mills, Hazelwood East High School, St. Louis
MOα(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 31, 2013 | Download PDF
Renowned Songwriters Come Together to Help Teen Girls Write
Hosted at Walt Disney Concert Hall by The Music Center Education Program
LOS ANGELES – Imagine being in high school and your lyrics are performed at Walt Disney Concert Hall. Nearly 100 teen girls will experience just that at WriteGirl's upcoming 12th Annual Songwriting Workshop on Saturday, February 9th. In partnership with the Music Center Education Program, Los Angeles teens and their WriteGirl mentors will gather in BP Hall at Walt Disney Concert Hall to work with some of the industry's top songwriters. WriteGirl teens will learn how to transform their words into musical forms ranging from pop to blues to rock in a space that has hosted musical legends Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma and Pink Martini.
The workshop will introduce girls to key concepts of lyric writing, including rhythm, rhyme structures, "the hook" and how to write memorable song titles.
Immediately following the intensive writing workshop, at 3:00 p.m. the girls will see their lyrics performed on stage by professional musicians and singers in BP Hall at Walt Disney Concert Hall, a space that is both acoustically and architecturally inspiring.
This year's songwriting workshop will feature a host of talented women including:
Danielle Brisebois
Natalie Cole Gilbert
Deanna Dellaciopa
Laurie Geltman
Adrianne Gonzales
Kay Hanley
Kari Kimmel |
Holly Knight
Libby Lavella
Michelle Lewis
Clare Means
Lisa Nemzo
Holly Palmer
Simone Porter |
Heidi Rojas
Lindsay Rush
Celeste Scalone
Renee Stahl
Keren Taylor
Jonelle Vette |
"For our 12th annual Songwriting Workshop, we are very excited to welcome a total of 20 incredible singer/songwriters to help coach our teen girls in writing songs," said Keren Taylor, WriteGirl's Executive Director. "For a girl to have this experience of learning how music is made, and then hearing her own words set to music, well, it's a day that will resonate for a long time."
Throughout the past 12 years, WriteGirl has successfully helped 100% of participating seniors to not only graduate from high school but also enroll in college, many on full or partial scholarships. This past fall, WriteGirl teens headed to Harvard, CSU Fullerton, UCLA, University of Wisconsin—Madison, Grinnell, Macalester, Azusa Pacific University, and CSU Channel Islands, just to name a few.
More than 350 girls participate in WriteGirl annually — an enormous increase from WriteGirl's initial group of 30 at its inception in 2001. Over the past decade, WriteGirl's success can be measured by the achievements of its alumnae who continue to study, work and contribute their unique voices around the world.
ASCAP and The ASCAP Foundation are sponsors of WriteGirl's Songwriting Workshops for teen girls. The ASCAP Foundation is dedicated to supporting American music creators and encouraging their development through music education and talent development programs.
Also sponsoring this workshop is The Good News Foundation, dedicated to making a positive and meaningful difference in the lives of people in need and at-risk in greater Los Angeles.
Additional Event Sponsors include: City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, Los Angeles Unified School District Beyond the Bell Division, Whole Foods, International Arrivals, Rock Scissors Paper and Paperblanks.
WriteGirl 12th Annual Songwriting Workshop
Saturday, February 9th, 2013
10:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
BP Hall at Walt Disney Concert Hall
111 South Grand Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90012
About WriteGirl
WriteGirl is a creative writing and mentoring program for at-risk girls in Los Angeles. WriteGirl pairs professional women writers with teen girls for weekly one-on-one mentoring, monthly full-day creative writing workshops, public readings and publishing opportunities. Through its Bold Futures program, WriteGirl provides college and job preparedness skills building, individual guidance through the college application process and leadership development opportunities. WriteGirl also brings workshops to schools in Los Angeles County serving critically at-risk teens, including incarcerated teens in Santa Clarita at the Roads to Success Academy. WriteGirl is a project of nonprofit organization Community Partners. WriteGirl was honored as the 2010-2011 California Nonprofit of the Year.
WriteGirl publications, available nationwide, online and at local bookstores, have collectively won 46 national and international book awards.
For more information, call Jessica McCarthy at 213-253-2655, events@writegirl.org
facebook.com/WriteGirlOrganization
twitter.com/writegirlla
Download PDF
 As bold, upsetting, and inspiring as the first ten books
Posted on 1/11/2013 7:34:00 AM by Susan Salter Reynolds
The 11th anthology from the WriteGirl nonprofit (Amazon, 292 pages, $16), which pairs teens with successful female writers, is as bold, upsetting, and inspiring as the first ten. All have won awards, probably because they illustrate the power of literature to reveal and enlighten. Whether memoir or short story, each piece was difficult to write, but the suffering and joy that explode from the pages only increase their value.
Buy the book
WriteGirl Publications
socialitelife.com
November 5th, 2012 by By Erica Nusgart
 The Bold Ink Awards Honors, Melissa Rosenberg, Screenwriter & Producer For ‘Twilight’ And Dexter Seriesby Creative Writing Organization For Teens, WriteGirl
Being a female journalist myself, I absolutely fell in love with The Bold Ink Awards, an annual event hosted by the WriteGirlorganization.Within a community of women writers, WriteGirl promotes creativity and self-expression to empower girls. The Bold Ink Awards celebrate landmark achievements by women writers.
The Bold Ink Awards featured well-established women screenwriters, novelists, journalists, producers and directors. It was an elegant soiree ensnared with femme fatale. Among the guest list was literary genius, Melissa Rosenberg, the mastermind behind the adaptation/screenplay of both the Twilight and Dexter series.
This celebration showcased the many accomplishments and huge strides for women writers within the last decade. It was an incredible evening that left attendees inspired and honored the strides that women are making as writers. In addition, Lisa Cholodenko (Screenwriter/Director, The Kids Are All Right), Zoe Kazan (Playwright/Screenwriter, Ruby Sparks) & Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl (Authors of the Beautiful Creatures series) were among the esteemed clientele.
www.examiner.com
 'Beautiful Creatures' generating movie buzz and Internet headlines
Buzz about the upcoming movie adaptation of Beautiful Creatures is building as the film's February 13th release date approaches. It's still a few months away, but fans are eager for any little nugget of news -- and lately, the media seems happy to fulfill their appetite.
After an embargo was lifted, several online media outlets released their reports and cast interviews from a visit to the Beautiful Creatures movie set earlier this year. Plus, the book's authors -- Kami Garcia andMargaret Stohl -- have been making a few headlines of their own lately.
Here's a quick look at all the latest news thatBeautiful Creatures fans won't want to miss:
Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl Honored at Bold Ink Awards
Along with Melissa Rosenberg, Lisa Cholodenko, and Zoe Kazan, Garcia and Stohl were honored recently at the 2012 Bold Ink Awards, presented by the organization WriteGirl. The awards are given to honor "fearless women writers."
GOOD.is
 October 10, 2012, by Anne Ramallo
Bold Ink Awards Honor Fearless Female Writers
Los Angeles nonprofit WriteGirl is celebrating outstanding women writers at the Bold Ink Awards. This year's Honorees include screenwriters, playwrights and authors--inspiring women who will share their stories at this award gala. The Bold Ink Awards benefit WriteGirl's creative writing and mentoring program for at-risk teen girls.
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Los Angeles Times, BOOKS, AUTHORS AND ALL THINGS BOOKISH
April 22, 2012, by Tracy Brown
Festival of Books: 'Write your brain barf' and other WriteGirl tips
The Etc. Stage at the L.A. Times Festival of Books kicked off its Sunday festivities with a presentation by WriteGirl, a Los Angeles-based organization founded by Keren Taylor to pair mentors with young girl writers and to encourage them to find empowerment through self-expression.
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Los Angeles Times, BOOKS, AUTHORS AND ALL THINGS BOOKISH
April 22, 2012, by Tracy Brown
Festival of Books: 'Write your brain barf' and other WriteGirl tips
The Etc. Stage at the L.A. Times Festival of Books kicked off its Sunday festivities with a presentation by WriteGirl, a Los Angeles-based organization founded by Keren Taylor to pair mentors with young girl writers and to encourage them to find empowerment through self-expression.
Go to article | View PDF
Pasadena Star-News
Professional writers volunteer to mentor pregnant girls and other at-risk teens
020812 - By Steve Scauzillo, Staff Writer
AZUSA - Asking teenagers to write an essay is tantamount to asking them to clean their rooms. Add to the mix pregnancy, foster parents and a lack of self-esteem and the assignment may end up in the wastepaper basket.
That's where the L.A.-based organization WriteGirl comes in. These group is made up of 150 professional women screenwriters, non-fiction writers and authors who act as mentors to girls ages 13 to 18 who either are or have been pregnant. They help them with writing, but also much more.
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Wiles Magazine
Socialite Spotlight: Keren Taylor
Welcome to the Socialite Spotlight: a weekly Wiles feature that shines the spotlight on fabulous men and women from all over the world! The focus of our first socialite spotlight is Keren Taylor, Founder and Executive Director of WriteGirl. WriteGirl was launched in December 2001 to bring the skills and energy of professional women writers to teenage girls who do not otherwise have access to creative writing or mentoring programs. Through one-on-one mentoring and monthly creative writing workshops, girls are given techniques, insights and hot topics for great writing in all genres from professional women writers. Workshops and mentoring sessions explore poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction, songwriting, journalism, screenwriting, playwriting, persuasive writing, journal writing, editing and more.
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Good.Is
People Are Awesome: L.A. Writer Shaves Head to Raise Cash for Struggling Nonprofit
September 15, 2011 - by Liz Dwyer Education Editor
Would you shave your head on your birthday to raise money for your favorite nonprofit? Los Angeles- based writer, designer and actress Colleen Wainwright pledged to do just that if the public raised $50,000 in 50 days for WriteGirl, a 10-year-old program that teaches writing and communication skills to high school girls in low-income neighborhoods of the city. So on Wednesday, Wainwright, who's known across the web as Communicatrix, voluntarily turned herself into a cue ball on her 50th birthday after the effort raised an impressive $60,357.
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