Summer 2010 Newsflash

Mentoring The Next Generation of Women Writers Since 1998

It's the grand finale of our program year. Let the fireworks begin: 2010 Anthology debut! Last CHAPTERS reading with top fiction author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie! Celebrations with Sapphire and Feminist Press! Four mentors publish their first books! And 100% of our senior girls are off to college! Phew. Now, break out your beach books, get a head start with your college essays, and soak up all our summer updates. We'll see you back here with fresh flashes in the fall.  

Do you have news to share? E-mail us!

 GIRLS WRITE NOW GETS GRAPHIC

Our last workshop of the season was also a first: GWN's inaugural Graphic Novel workshop! With expert graphic novelists Lauren R. Weinstein and Raina Telgemeier at the helm, GWN members learned the basics of the genre, then put ink to paper, bringing to life "Our World and Beyond" (which capped off the "Where We Live" curriculum) with original graphic novel scenes. We celebrated the closing workshop with delicious baked treats, generously donated by chef Joanne Sepetjian.

CONGRATULATIONS GWN CLASS OF 2010!!

The GWN Mentee Class of 2010 celebrated their many accomplishments this year with a party on Tuesday, June 29, at GWN headquarters.  Attendees enjoyed pizza, ice cream, music, and giveaways from Warner Bros., Gossip Girl TV Show, Bluestockings bookstore, Scholastic, and The Black-Eyed Peas!  The Class of 2010 received their graduation certificates, and all mentees got copies of the 2010 GWN Anthology, Where We Live.  Congratulations again, girls, on a wonderful year!

IT'S THE 10K SUMMER CHALLENGE: JOIN US!

We met this spring's $25K goal thanks to your incredible support! And now we must accept the challenge to raise $10K more before Sept. 1, enabling our move to a new midtown headquarters large enough to fit our ever-growing programs. If we hit the $10K mark, She Writes founder Kamy Wicoff has pledged to match it dollar-for-dollar, in honor of She Writes' 1st anniversary mission to help thousands follow their dreams of becoming successful writers. Please help us take advantage of this rare opportunity with a generous summer gift.

GWN EARNS SUPPORT FROM THE ORCHARD FOUNDATION

With gratitude, GWN is also pleased to acknowledge The Orchard Foundation whose recent generous grant will help support our writing and mentoring program this year.

PASE SUPPORTS GWN CAPACITY BUILDING

Girls Write Now has received one of 20 capacity building sub-awards plus free training and technical assistance from the Partnership for Afterschool Education (PASE) via the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), the Office of Community Services (OCS), and the Compassion Capital Fund. We are grateful for their support. Capacity building services to develop Girls Write Now's leadership, organization, and program, while engaging the community, will increase our sustainability and effectiveness, enhance our ability to provide social services, and create collaborations to better serve at-risk youth.

BROOKLYN COMMUNITY FOUNDATION CONTINUES GWN INVESTMENT

Girls Write Now was named a recipient of a Brooklyn Community Foundation grant to support both our mentoring program and our Girls College Bound program, the latter as part of a new partnership with Sadie Nash Leadership Project. The foundation has played a significant role in the development of Girls Write Now, awarding us our very first institutional grant, and providing consistent financial support over the years. We are grateful for their continued generosity.

GWN BOARD WELCOMES NANCY K. MILLER & EUNICE SALTON

Join us in welcoming our newest members of GWN's Board of Directors, Nancy K. Miller and Eunice Salton. Nancy K. Miller is Distinguished Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the Graduate Center, CUNY. Her most recent book is But Enough About Me: Why We Read Other People's Lives (Columbia University Press); and her memoir, I Found My Family in a Drawer, is forthcoming from University of Nebraska Press in 2010. Eunice Salton's career has focused on communications in the financial services industry, at Chase, and at the financial publishing unit of Simon & Schuster. She is the National Executive Director of Plays for Living, Inc., an award-winning non-profit organization that utilizes theater techniques to raise awareness and develop skills around compelling workplace issues.

Four GWN community members publish their first books! Mentor alum Nana Brew-Hammond debuted her coming-of-age tale Powder Necklace (Washington Square Press) in April; and alum Maggie Pouncey, her novel Perfect Reader (Pantheon) in June. Advisory Board member Renee Watson comes out with two children's books this summer: A Place Where Hurricanes Happen (Random House Books for Young Readers); and What Mamma Left Mementor Ruiyan Xu's novel, The Lost and Forgotten Languages of Shanghai (St. Martin's Press). Visit our community books webpage to order and to learn more about our talented community of women authors. 

 MENTORS IN THE NEWS

Our mentors are springing up all over the place! Maureen McNeil, Curriculum Co-Chair on the GWN Program Advisory Committee, published an article about Anne Frank in On The Issues' spring 2010 edition on The Feminist Mind. The fiction of Rollie Hochstein, a fifth-year mentor, is included in the latest issue of Glimmer Train, and mentor alum Rosie Schaap is writing for NPR's World Cup blog Show Me Your Cleats! All the way from Haiti, first-year mentor Ibi Zoboi teaches a workshop series for young women with Daughters of Anacaona Writing Project this summer. 

GIRLS WRITE NOW PAIR TAKES THE STAGE WITH
SAPPHIRE, STACEYANN CHIN, AND SOFIA QUINTERO

On June 9th, Girls Write Now mentee-mentor pair Michaela Burns and Erica Dolland joined the Feminist Press and authors Sapphire, Staceyann Chin and Sofia Quintero in celebrating the much-anticipated reissue of June Jordan's 1971 young adult novel, His Own Where. Michaela and Erica read aloud their favorite passage of the book to a full audience at the Countee Cullen Library, and also joined the other guest authors in a lively panel discussion about the significance of Jordan's novel in today's society.

WRITING AROUND TOWN

Susan Stein, craft talk guest author at the GWN Playwriting Workshop this spring, is now performing her adaptation of Etty Hillesum's letters and diary of the Holocaust between 1941-1943. Visit the Etty website for upcoming performance dates. For more summer literary events around NYC, check out our writing events webpage.

 OPPORTUNITIES FOR TEEN WRITERS

Teen writers, look no further! Visit our Scholarships and Writing Opportunities Page for publication opportunities and contests just for teens! This month: Send your pictures to The Girl Project for a chance to have your world highlighted in their upcoming traveling exhibit, or share your life through words in NPR's The Hidden World of Girls project.

 WRITING OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN

We're always updating our Resources for Professionals page with career information, writing opportunities, and more!