Plus, mentee Ariel Zhang wins our Famesick contest with Lena Dunham.
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Each week, a word becomes a world.
August 24—August 30
A Supernatural Mystery:
Featured Media
The Seersucker Man
By Kayla Martinez
A jaded seer and a dorky history student solve supernatural mysteries in their swanky apartment building… that used to be a sanitarium. Their first case is a mysterious spirit dressed in seersucker.
Become a mentor or mentee this fall in Dark Tales: Horror Book Club—or in any one of 12 Journeys built around your passions, goals, and schedule.
Fall Journeys run November through January—just three hours a month. Applications close August 31.
Owning Your Story:
Notes from Our Community
VISION LAB PODCAST
Inequality in Education
How Music, Books & Language Make Community Strong
In Episode 3 of Girls Write Now's The Vision Lab: Youth Voices for Change, Lead Incubator mentee Joi Ysabella Carla Salvino talks with Lourdes Macias, a rising sophomore at a New York college studying international relations, about who gets access to education in the U.S. and abroad. Their conversation turns to what communities already have—the music they make, the books they share, the language they speak—and how those become tools for closing the gap.
Camilla Rodriguez
Girls Write Now
Community Studio Facilitator
Camilla Rodriguez hosts Applying to College as a First-Generation & Neurodivergent Student, a recurring Girls Write Now Studio on navigating the college process.
PROMPT OF THE WEEK
Your North Star
The Perfect Personal Statement Is Your Own
How do you make your personal statement stand out among the thousands colleges read each year? By telling your story as only you can.
Think of your north star—the one thing you want admissions committees to know about you. Now find three ways to show it. Some ideas:
- Zoom in. What single moment showcases the quality you want them to see? Look for a symbolic image—an object, a recipe, a family heirloom—that carries the whole story in one frame.
- Zoom out. What theme runs through the arc of your life, the one that taught you who you are? Try mapping it in an unexpected form: a countdown, a film script, a walking tour.
- Zoom sideways. What two threads seem to have nothing in common—say, competitive chess and your taco truck job—but weave together into a story no one else could tell?
WRITING CONTEST
Announcing Winners of Famesick Contest in Partnership with Lena Dunham & Random House.
Join Us In Congratulating Mentee Ariel Zhang & Four Honorable Mentions
In partnership with Lena Dunham and Random House, Girls Write Now invited our community to write their way to wellness through an initiative combining a writing contest with a philanthropic fund supporting the creativity and wellness of the next generation. Hundreds of submissions flooded in from our writers ages 14-24, with the pieces judged by authors Sinéad Burke, Hunter Harris, and Jane Pratt, along with Girls Write Now’s editorial committees. We are proud to announce that mentee Ariel Zhang has been named the Grand Prize Winner for her poem, "someday i'll love."
Honorable mentions include Girls Write Now mentee Kylie Lohse's personal essay "But You Don't Look Autistic"; Maura Cleary's piece "The Reconciliation Room"; Deepa Alugupali's "For years, I was very good at being fine"; and Izzy Ster's "Up & Down."
At Girls Write Now, our writers are poets, podcasters, and activists. They fight for equitable education, for mental health, and for their voices to be heard. Your gift puts a mentor beside every one of them and a community behind them for life. Today, you can write the change you want to see.
Happening Write Now:
Mark Your Calendar
COLLABORATORY WORKSHOP
College-Ready: Funding Your Education
Tuesday, August 25, 7-9 PM ET, Virtual
Learn how to navigate the financial aid process with confidence. We will break down the different ways to make your education more affordable, from scholarships and grants to loans and other financial aid opportunities. You’ll gain practical tips to apply for funding, understand your options, and make informed decisions. Led by veteran educator and college access expert Tom Rabbitt.
Open to all mentors, mentees, members & the public.
SUMMER SALON
How to Get Laughs: A Salon on Writing Humor and Satire with Talia Argondezzi
Thursday, August 27, 6-7:15 PM ET, Virtual
Whether you want to break into satire, bring more humor into your fiction or memoir, or hear how a book actually gets made, this salon is a chance to learn from—and write alongside—a writer who does all three. Talia Argondezzi's humor has appeared in The New Yorker and McSweeney's, and her new book, Bedtime Stories for Academics, lands this month. Come ready to write.
Open to all mentors, mentees, members & the public.
Join us for a sneak peek of this year's writing contest with Chasing Spirits, launching October 1. Two writers ages 13–19 will each receive a $1,500 prize.
CAREER CHAT
Chasing Spirits: A Youth Mental Health Career Chat
Tuesday, September 8, 4:45-6 PM ET, Virtual
Your mind needs care as much as your body does. This Career Chat, in partnership with Chasing Spirits, brings together organizations working in youth mental health—Born This Way Foundation, The Liv Project, The Trevor Project, and The Possibility Project. Hear how people in this field built their careers, and what a pathway into the work could look like for you.
Open to all mentors, mentees, members & the public.
Get the Gig:
Curated Opportunities Just for You
Need help applying for these opportunities—and more?
Meet with a Mentor On Demand today!
JOB OPPORTUNITY
The Climate Museum
Special Assistant to the Director
Work at the intersection of climate and culture with a small, close-knit team doing justice-centered cultural work on the climate emergency. You'll assist the Museum's director, lead operational and other special projects, and sit in on high-level strategy and planning during a formative period of growth for this start-up museum—a wide-ranging entry point into nonprofit arts fundraising and management.
Deadline: September 7, 2026
Create a portal account to apply.
ENRICHMENT OPPORTUNITY
One Hand Don't Clap: Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival
Free & Ticketed Readings, Conversations, Workshops & Cultural Programming
The theme comes from a Caribbean proverb about community and collaboration—storytelling as something no one does alone. This year's lineup includes Imani Perry, Sister Nancy, Nicole Dennis-Benn, and Lauren Francis-Sharma. The festival closes with the awards for the BCLF Short Fiction Story Contest, an annual prize for emerging writers of Caribbean heritage that opens pathways to publication and mentorship.
Dates: September 9-13, 2026, across Brooklyn's Little Caribbean
Create a portal account to learn more.
ENRICHMENT OPPORTUNITY
Latinx Kidlit Book Festival
Free Craft Sessions for Teen Writers, On Demand & Live Online—No Registration
Alongside storytime and illustration sessions for younger readers, the festival offers a full track for teen writers: panels on coming of age, romance, and world-building with Aiden Thomas, Julian Randall, and Kaela Rivera, plus five-minute craft minis on plot versus story, point of view, and using setting to drive a character's emotional arc. Stream sessions on your own time or catch live: Publishing Journeys, Tuesday, September 1, 7 PM ET—four authors on rejection, awards, and work-for-hire. Two more live events Friday, September 18.
Dates: Live September 1 & 18;
sessions stream year-round
Create a portal account to learn more.
If you don't already have a Girls Write Now account, create one now.
