A poem by WriteGirl Alum Sofía Aguilar
Without us, where would you be?
Without all the women you love, you need
—not just your mother or sister
but your neighbors, your authors, your scholars—
would you survive a day?
Read More“Today, we will write, we will share, we will learn, we will dance, we will reflect, we will laugh and we will map out our own super special summer of writing,” said WriteGirl Executive Director Keren Taylor during the opening remarks of the annual WriteGirl Season-End Celebration on June 25, 2022.
Read MoreWriteGirl Alum Shandela Contreras is an undergraduate student at the University of Southern California, majoring in Creative Writing. She is a Los Angeles County Youth Poet Ambassador and was a Finalist for the Los Angeles Youth Poet Laureate 2022.
Read MoreWriteGirl mentee Jessica Kim was named the 2021 LA Youth Poet Laureate! Of the 18 finalists, 12 were WriteGirl mentees. Jessica Kim shares her poem “Ghazal for K” on the WriteGirl blog.
Read MoreBy Sofia Pezo, 14
Sofia is in the 9th grade at Culver City High School.
"I wrote this for every young girl out there who just needs to feel their inner lioness roar again. She IS strong. Don't ever forget that.”
Read MoreWriteGirl was invited to travel to Rome, Italy, in November of 2019 for YouthMundus, an international youth empowerment conference helping to inspire youth to use their creativity as a vehicle for change! Two of our WriteGirl alums represented WriteGirl on a women’s empowerment panel alongside organizations such as Women’s March Global, Women Occupy Hollywood and Equality Now. WriteGirl also hosted an interactive walk-through workshop to help youth discover the power of their voice.
Our two WriteGirl alums, Janel Pineda and Sara Kimura, recently reflected on their experience at the festival.
Read More“Why in this age has heaven allowed you more and Women less... Why should Women not write as well as men?” These questions were posed by Aphra Behn, the first English woman to become a professional writer. I had the opportunity to read through a first edition copy of Behn’s play at the WriteGirl Workshop at Whitmore Rare Books. This workshop was empowering on so many levels!
Read MoreFor a teenager who is totally inexperienced with art, the art at the LACMA is, at first glance, totally random and sometimes even nonsensical. However, when I took a closer look and held my gaze as suggested by the writing prompts provided for us, I found small bits and pieces of myself in the artwork.
Read MoreIt was finally March 9th! I had been waiting for this day for weeks! As an aspiring screenwriter, I was eager to bring my notebook along and take notes at the WriteGirl Character & Dialogue Workshop! Not to mention, I was really excited to drive down Sunset Blvd and arrive at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’s Linwood Dunn Theater where the workshop was being held!
Read MoreThe workshop began with a burning question – “What is poetry to you?” One of the guest poets, Darby Price, responded, “Poetry is an experiment all the time…until you really feel that your voice is in your writing.” This spoke to me on a different level. I had always tried too hard while writing poetry because I wanted it to relate to other people, when really it just has to form a connection with myself. We learned from incredible poets Ryka Aoki, Neelanjana Banerjee, Ashaki M. Jackson, and Yazmin Monet Watkins.
Read MoreWhen I walked through the door of the Songwriting Workshop, I had what I wanted to write about in mind. My heart was pulling at it and I had no choice but to follow.
Read MoreEvery WriteGirl workshop is a new experience. Even if you’ve been to the Huntington Gardens ten times with WriteGirl, it’s still breathtaking. The Fiction workshop was no exception.
Read MoreWe asked WriteGirl Alumni to share what the WriteGirl program has done for them and why they are grateful for it, even after their teen years. We are honored and excited to have been a part of these young women's lives.
Read MoreEvery day at 10 a.m, I sleepily push the door into the WriteGirl office in Downtown LA. Still hazy from getting up at 7 in the morning and dealing with Alameda traffic, I wake up with the enthusiastic good mornings from Katie, the WriteGirl office manager, and Jackie, the WriteGirl marketing intern. Besides the warm people and the funky office, what are some of the perks of being a WriteGirl intern?
Read MoreWriteGirl mentee Addissyn wrote about her creative process and shared a recent poem she wrote.
I am a Woman
by Addissyn, 17
i am neither roses nor daisies nor a perfect little garden
i am rough around the edges, natural, unconventional
i am not to be shown off, not to be painted to your liking
i am a blank canvas for my own creations
WriteGirl 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.
