Girls Write Now
Mission:
Founded in 1998, our mission is to provide a safe space for girls to explore and develop their creative, independent voices, and learn how to make healthy choices in school, career and life.
Contact Information
Address: 520 Eighth Avenue, New York, NY
Telephone: (917) 375-6254
Website: http://www.girlswritenow.org
Primary Contact Name: Michele Thomas
Location
General Information
Type: After School, Emotional Support, Reading/Literacy, Volunteer
Target audience: Students, Parents, Teachers, Organizations, Administrators, Schools
Programs/Services
Core Mentoring Program
Description: At the start of the school year, each teen participant ("mentee") is assigned to a professional woman writer ("mentor"). These mentor/mentee pairs meet weekly in person. To spur creativity and writing, activities have included free book readings, plays, films, museum visits, and informal writing/editing sessions at coffee shops. Once per month, GWN organizes group workshops that are led by mentors on a rotating basis. Capitalizing on their particular field of expertise, mentors present workshops on fiction, poetry, playwriting, screenwriting, memoir writing, journalism, and more. Themes span from social justice to race, gender, and religion. Throughout the workshop, mentees and mentors participate in a series of writing exercises, variously conducted in a solo, one-on-one, and small group format. There are also full group discussions and critiques. Workshops are held on Saturdays for from 11:30 - 4:15 PM.
Fees for services: New York City
Ages of students:
Schools/sites:
Contact person: Meghan McNamara
Girls College Bound
Description: Girls College Bound Program includes annual College and Career Seminars for teens. In 2007, Barnard College sponsored a full-day seminar led by the Dean of Admissions, the Senior Associate Director of Financial Aid, Barnard Writing Fellows and Girls Write Now mentors. GWN also provide two full-day essay writing clinics led by professors from New York University as well as individual college counseling sessions twice a year by a certified guidance counselor.
Fees for services: NYC
Ages of students:
Schools/sites:
Contact person: Meghan McNamara
Girls Write Now Reading Series
Description: The Girls Write Now core workshop season is punctuated by three annual readings, which present mentees with an opportunity to truly let their creative voices be heard, as they gain experience in performance and public speaking.
Each January, the Winter Pair Reading showcases collaborative works by mentor-mentee pairs. Recent guest speakers include: Phoebe Damrosch, author of Service Included: Four-Star Secrets of an Eavesdropping Waiter; Melissa Kirsch, author of The Girl's Guide to Absolutely Everything; Deborah Siegel, author of Sisterhood Interrupted: From Radical Women to Grrls Gone Wild; and Courtney Martin, author of Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters: The Frightening New Normalcy of Hating Your Body.
Our Girls Write Now Day celebration showcases more collaborative works and explores the theme of International Women's Day. Recent guest speakers include: Grace Edwards, author of the novel Do or Die; Caroline Hickey, author of Cassie Was Here; Anne Landsman, author of The Rowing Lesson, and renown poet Lila Zemborain
The Girls Write Now season culminates in the annual Spring Reading at Barnes & Noble, where mentees take the stage solo to share the work that best exemplifies their growth as writers during the course of the year. The reading also marks the debut of each year's annual anthology of writing by Girls Write Now mentees. Special guests at the GWN Spring Reading include: Jessica Valenti, executive editor of Feministing.com and author of Full Frontal Feminism: A Young Woman's Guide to Why Feminism Matters; Lauren Mechling and Laura Moser, authors of The Rise and Fall of a 10th Grade Social Climber; and Def Poet Staceyann Chin.
Fees for services: NYC
Ages of students:
Schools/sites:
Contact person: Meghan McNamara
Girls Life Adventure
Description: Girls Life Adventure (GLA) produces a series of arts-based life-skills workshops for teenage girls in NYC. Co-created by Girls Write Now and viBe Theater Experience, GLA guides girls through bi-monthly writing and performance workshops and publications in order to discover both practical and creative solutions to the most important of everyday challenges. GLA equips and inspires girls to find beauty and poetry in the adventure that is each girl’s life.
Fees for services: NYC
Ages of students:
Schools/sites:
Contact person: Maya Nussbaum
