CELEBRATE WITH US!

Praise for Our New Book

Hope Lives In Our Words

"Girls Write Now is more necessary today than ever. Helping young people to harness the power of their own voices, of their own words, is an indispensable tool toward building more free and expansive futures, and these pages are proof positive of just how bright those futures can be."  — Maggie Smith, author of YOU COULD MAKE THIS PLACE BEAUTIFUL

Hope Lives in Our Words: 2025 Girls Write Now Anthology will be published August 26, 2025 by Dutton Books in collaboration with Amazon Literary Partnership, and Feminist Press. Featuring an epigraph by Suleika Jaouad and a foreword by Winnie Holzman, this book encourages each reader to reflect on the power of language to shape our world. 

READ WITH US

Fetishized by Kaila Yu

A Reckoning with Yellow Fever, Feminism & Beauty

This month, we are excited to host a Friday Night Salon with author Kaila Yu in celebration of her new  book, Fetishized. This memoir-in-essays takes a scalpel to the carefully constructed narratives around Asian femininity and sexuality, revealing how the legacy of U.S. imperialism has had harmful consequences for Asian women in the West. Join us on August 21st as Yu helps us transform lived experience (especially around identity, race, gender, and beauty) into essays that resonate on both the page and the public stage.

WRITE WITH US

Summer Sounds
Prompt and Playlist

By Christine Obiamalu,
Community Manager

You’re ten years into the future and rest is no longer radical—it’s revered. Describe a day in this world.
Where do you go to rest? Who do you rest with? How is your creative self nourished there?

Check out this prompt and playlist by the newest member of the Girls Write Now team: Christine Obiamalu!
Fun Facts About Christine:
-She's been playing piano since she was 5.
-She is a certified yoga teacher.
-She lived in Lagos, Nigeria for 15 years before moving to Canada for one year and then America.

PUBLISH WITH US

Four More Days To Write for Life

Enter Contest For the Chance to Win $1,500 & Publication

In this contest, Girls Write Now and Chasing Spirits invite you to tell your story in your unique voice. Describe an especially difficult time you have faced, or something you have struggled to navigate, as a teenager. How has writing helped you to survive and creatively transform your experience into new understandings of self, home, and well-being? Submit an essay answering this question for your chance to win! 

Submission deadline is August 15.

COMMUNITY STUDIOS

August Community Studios Start Now!

August 11-21, Various Times, Virtual

August is a month of beach days, park hang outs, and warm sunsets. It's also the perfect time to give your creativity a boost with our Community Studios. Curated and led by mentors and mentees in the Teach GWN Journey, these studios cover a wide range of genres, topics, and activities so you can find one that works for you! Find the full list of Community Studios in your Portal accounts.

Open to all mentors, mentees, members, and the public

CAREER CHAT

Digital Dream Jobs: A Social Media & Marketing Career Chat

Tuesday, August 12, 6-7:15 PM ET, Virtual

Do you ever wonder who’s behind a brand’s viral reel or how influencer collabs actually happen? Do writers have careers in marketing? Join us at our Social Media & Marketing Career Chat to find out! Our panelists will share their career journeys as well as their practical advice for breaking into digital marketing. This is your chance to ask all your burning questions about marketing and communications careers—and to get real answers.

Open to all mentors, mentees, members, and the public

MENTOR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

I Trust the Dirt: Developing An Accurate Cultural Lens

Thursday, August 14, 6-7:15 PM ET, Virtual

In a world where surface appearances often overshadow deeper truths, Ianne Fields Stewart invites mentors to engage in a transformative workshop that reorients our perspectives toward authenticity and grounded connection. This session encourages participants to shift their gaze from the “diamonds and gold”—the polished facades and assumptions—back to the “dirt and earth,” symbolizing realness, humility, and foundational truths.

Open to all mentors, peer-mentees, and staff

IV COMMITTEE MEETING

IV Tech Committee Meeting

Thursday, August 14, 7-8 PM ET, Virtual

The world of work is shifting fast—driven by changes in how we write, give and receive mentorship, and where we find community. Girls Write Now is uniquely poised to meet these changes in this moment. At this month’s committee meeting, we’ll harness the diverse experiences and expertise of Tech Committee members, identifying the real tensions of leaders across sectors to best position Girls Write Now as a strategic solution with essential services to meet those needs.

Open to all IV Tech Committee members, mentors, mentees, members, and the public

COLLABORATORY WORKSHOP

Everything Can Be a Song: Storytelling Through Sound

Saturday, August 16, 12-2 PM ET, Virtual

In this workshop, creative powerhouses Je’Vel and YawnyBlew will explore how songwriting can be another tool to tell one’s truth. Whether you write poems, essays, fiction, or journal entries, music can help you express emotion, set tone, and connect with people in new ways. Together, we’ll walk through how songs are structured, how they mirror other forms of writing, and how you can start turning your ideas into lyrics that move.

Open to all mentors, mentees, members, and the public

COLLEGE CHAT

Navigating the MFA Experience

Tuesday, August 19, 4:45-6 PM ET, Virtual

Panelists Nicole Caplain Kelly, Christine Singleton, Sasha Debevec-McKenney, and Sheena Daree Romero will share insights from their journeys during and after earning their MFAs in poetry and fiction. The event will include a breakout room activity, giving participants the opportunity to connect more personally with the panelists for further discussion. We’ll conclude with a Q&A session where attendees can ask questions about the panelists’ experiences and receive advice on pursuing an MFA.

Open to all mentors, mentees, members, and the public

INTERNSHIP OPPORTUNITY

Macmillan

Fall 2025 Internship

Macmillan Publishers is currently offering paid, part-time, remote internship opportunities for Fall 2025. Those hired locally will be given the opportunity to come into the office, if interested. Internships will be available in areas such as Editorial, Marketing/Digital Marketing, Publicity, Art & Design, Sales, Managing/Production Editorial, Production, Publishing Operations, Subrights, Creative Services, Author Events, and shared services. Internships start on September 15, 2025 and will continue through December 19, 2025.

Apply by August 15, 2025.

JOB OPPORTUNITY

Climax Books

New York Store Manager

Climax Books is excited to share that they are recruiting for a New York store manager. This role is responsible for leading the day to day operations, sales, growth and customer experience of our flagship New York location. Required is a deep knowledge and interest in their curation of books, and the photographers, writers, and artists they stock.

WRITING CONTEST OPPORTUNITY

Futurepoem

Other Futures Award

The Other Futures Award is given annually to an innovative, adventurous full-length work that challenges conventions of genre and language, content and form. Send us writing that imagines new lived or literary possibilities, and questions established paradigms. The winner will receive publication with Futurepoem, an advance of $1000, a standard royalty contract, and 25 author copies. We will announce our decision in late 2025. The winning book will be published in 2027.

Submit by August 15, 2025.