How WriteGirl helps teens find their creative voice

A rainy afternoon is perfectly conducive to a poetry reading. Teens step to the stage to share their words and their hearts at a literary event hosted by WriteGirl held at the Downey City Library in California. The girls read short poems, list poems, angry poems, sad poems, and nature poems. Sansa, 15, shares “Venice Beach” – the first poem she ever wrote. “The ocean knows nothing lasts forever,” she reads, leaving goose bumps across the room.

Sansa lives in Marina del Rey and calls Draco Malfoy fan fiction her first writing experience. She says she’s been writing for eight years and has been working on her own trilogy for the past four. Suffering writer’s block, she searched for writing groups in Los Angeles, looking for community. When she found WriteGirl, she was inspired. “I’m getting to share my work in front of people. Yes, it’s nerve-wracking, but I think it’s absolutely worth it,” says the teen. None of the teenage writers’ last names are being used to protect their privacy.

Keren Taylor started WriteGirl in 2001 as a way to help teen girls who did not have access to creative writing programs. “Teen girls are still incredibly vulnerable and invisible, and that contributes to a real deep sense of loss of self-worth,” Ms. Taylor says. “I just feel like they’re a really important group for us to lift up and help and inspire.” 

Today, 400 women writers volunteer with 700 teenagers a year, and the nonprofit has expanded beyond its LA roots. Every girl who has gone through the mentorship program has gone on to college – and several to careers as professional writers. It works with boys and co-ed groups under the name Bold Ink. The group’s most famous alum is Amanda Gorman, who became a literary star after reading her poem “The Hill We Climb” at President Joe Biden’s inauguration. 

Through the free program, girls dive into poetry, fiction, songwriting, journalism, screenwriting, journal writing, and editing, learning techniques from a network of professional women writers. If needed, the girls also receive support with their college applications. The group’s anthologies have also won 99 literary awards, and in 2013, the organization won a National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award.

Getting on her Soapbox

For JG, a 15-year-old who goes to school in Studio City and loves speech, debate, and martial arts, the Soapbox segment of the Writing Wednesdays workshop was part of what convinced her she’d found her people. During that time, girls are invited to “rant or rave” on a topic of their choosing for 30 seconds.

“I felt so connected to the community. We share this bond of writing,” says JG, who began attending online workshops last year.

JG has been working with her mentor, Danyella Wilder, for about a year – with weekly meetings via Zoom during which they experiment with writing exercises, share their words, or simply talk. Ms. Wilder and JG say that the mentorship has not only allowed them to explore a variety of genres but also contributed to their personal growth. “With WriteGirl, I’ve developed a lot of confidence in being able to put my voice on paper,” JG says.

Mentoring JG reminds Ms. Wilder, a writer and editor, why she first fell in love with writing herself. She says the long-term nature of the mentoring was what drew her in. “It almost seems like she’s like a little sister of mine. I like to say [there is] friendship, too. I just feel like we get to giggle and we get to laugh with each other about things.” She wishes she had a program like this herself when she was 15. “To just have an organization where there are people who are spending time out of their day just to tell you, ‘Hey, good job,’ or ‘That was amazing,’ you’re at the age where you need to hear that.”

In August, WriteGirl received the Creative Recovery LA grant from the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture. “We’re really proud to have been able to support them because of the incredible work that they do to support young people and girls ... to help them with creative expression and especially those who are systems impacted, who may be really deeply connected in the foster system or the justice system,” says director Kristin Sakoda.

The department has also worked with WriteGirl for the past five years as part of the Arts for Healing and Justice Network, the only arts collaborative for incarcerated youth in California. “It’s wonderful to have some organizations that really focus on young people but also focus on girls and girls’ empowerment,” Ms. Sakoda says.

Since the pandemic, the nonprofit has shifted to a virtual model that allows teens from 18 countries to participate. Ms. Taylor says it’s been exciting to have girls joining from Nigeria, Poland, Tajikistan, Uganda, and Kenya.

Joining in from overseas

When Ms. Gorman read her work at President Biden’s inauguration, Mariana’s mom read about it – and WriteGirl – in Uruguay. She told her daughter about WriteGirl’s online workshops. In the spring of 2021, Mariana started attending workshops over Zoom. “It’s a really, really safe space,” Mariana says. “Some stuff that maybe I wouldn’t share with my friends at school, I would definitely share in a workshop.” She requested a mentor and in 2022 started working with Myrna Aguilar. 

Mariana, now a sophomore in high school, has since moved to North Carolina with her family. Her poem “The Future” (inspired by the song “AA” by The Neighbourhood Watch) was recently published in WriteGirl’s latest anthology in both Spanish and English. “I’ve always loved writing, but I’d never done poems,” she says. “If I wasn’t in WriteGirl, I probably wouldn’t have written some of the poems that I love the most.”

Nicole Jefferson started as a mentee in 2016 during her junior year of high school in Los Angeles and credits WriteGirl with helping her with not only her college essay but also the whole application process. She ended up going to Yale. 

After graduating in 2022, she volunteered as a mentor. “WriteGirl takes the pressure off, and there’s no right or wrong. You just kind of throw yourself into it. And I think that there’s a lot to be said about the vulnerability and pure joy and little bit of chaos that can come from it,” she says.

After completing a one-year mentorship, Ms. Jefferson recently moved to Dublin, Ireland, for graduate school. “I ended up making some really lovely friends at WriteGirl,” Ms. Jefferson says. “Actually, one of my friends from WriteGirl ended up going to Yale with me. She’s amazing. I love her.”

Ms. Taylor has seen firsthand how people develop long-lasting relationships. “We only ask a mentor to join for a year, but we hope that they will enjoy working together and keep going,” she says. “They often end up becoming very close. Friends and mentors have gone to the teen’s graduation from high school, graduation from college, their weddings.”