An Evening with Young Writers & the Women Who Inspire Them January 18, 2008

GIRLS WRITE NOW 10th ANNIVERSARY WINTER READING:
An Evening with NYC’s Young Women Writers and the Women Who Inspire Them

NEW YORK, NY (December 20) – Girls Write Now, New York City’s premier mentoring and creative writing organization for teen girls, today announced its 10th Anniversary Winter Reading. On Friday, January 18, join participants in the program for an evening with young women writers and the women who inspire them, including bestselling authors and cultural commentators Melissa Kirsch (The Girl’s Guide to Absolutely Everything), Phoebe Damrosch (Service Included), Courtney Martin (Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters) and Deborah Siegel (Sisterhood, Interrupted), at the downtown landmark, John Street Church, located at 44 John Street in Lower Manhattan. The event will take place from 7-9PM, and a $10 donation to GWN for admission is suggested (although no one will be turned away at the door for lack of funds).

The reading, in part a celebration of National Mentoring Month, highlights the creative work and life-changing relationships that form over the course of a Girls Write Now season, and will feature collaborative works that have either been written and will be read by a mentor-mentee pair together, or two complementary pieces written separately and read together. Bound together by theme, pieces will be introduced by a powerhouse lineup of women writers, as noted above. Melissa Kirsch will deliver the evening’s keynote. There will also be a raffle for a celebrity-worthy giftbag full of designer beauty products donated by Marie Claire (retail value: $1000).

“This is a wonderful opportunity to see the Girls Write Now community in action,” said Maya Nussbaum, Executive Director of Girls Write Now. “The spirit of our mission is perfectly encapsulated in the collaborative pieces written and read aloud by our mentor-mentee pairs.”

Founded in 1998, Girls Write Now Inc. provides a safe and supportive environment where girls can expand their natural writing talents, develop independent creative voices, and build confidence in making healthy choices in school, career and life. GWN provides at-risk high school girls with emerging writing talent the unique opportunity to be custom matched with a professional woman writer who serves as her individual mentor and writing coach, meeting with her weekly for one entire school year, and for up to four years. GWN also enrolls each student in a vibrant writing community and professional network -- all mentees and mentors gather monthly for genre-based workshops conducted at Teachers & Writers Collaborative -- the home of the oldest writers-in-the-schools program in the country -- in midtown Manhattan. The year is punctuated by three public readings, college and career prep seminars, a social action series, field trips to cultural events, and endless opportunities for scholarships and publication. The magic of the program is reflected in a solid nine-year track record, a 65-percent member retention rate, a 100-percent college acceptance rate, an annual anthology of original writing, and the seven-genre portfolios each student emerges equipped with each season. More: www.girlswritenow.org.

###

Official Website: http://www.girlswritenow.org