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Growing Up Girl: An Anthology of Voices from Marganilized Spaces
About The WritersEunice Alicea was born in Arecibo, Puerto Rico – the youngest of five. Her family relocated to Yonkers, New York two years later. She attended Hunter College in Manhattan, New York and received a degree in Secondary English Education. It was there she published her first poem, and short story. She later attended Lehman College and received a Master’s Degree in Composition Rhetoric. She teaches writing and literature at Lehman College as well as facilitates an after school theatre program for adolescent girls in the South Bronx.
Lauren K. Alleyne hails from the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. She is agraduate of the MFA program at Cornell University, where she currently teaches Creative Writing and Freshman writing seminars. Her work has appeared in Black Arts Quarterly, The Caribbean Writer, Sexing the Political, and The Hampden-Sydney Review. She is a Cave Canem fellow.
Wendy Altschuler graduated with high honors from DePaul University with a degree in Women’s and Gender Studies and Anthropology. She is the first person in her family to graduate from college. Wendy is happily married to a brilliant man who adores her and lives in the suburb of Chicago with her two dogs.
Piper Anderson is a performance poet, musician, author, educator, and activist who has toured her signature brand of hip hop inspired poetry and song nationally since 1999. Her voice has been called “ancient”, “inspiring”, “pure”, “original” and “beyond comparison”. She co-authored How to Get Stupid White Men Out Office (Soft Skull Press) and traveled the country providing young people with the tools needed to mobilize their communities to get out the vote in the 2004 presidential election.
Anonymous grew up laughing in the sun, playing in the snow, and dancing in the rain. She never colored inside the lines. Today she is a recovering addict and anorectic. It has been almost a year since she tried to kill herself. Her brother and best friend taught her how to love life. She wants to make a difference. She is 19 years old.
Kesi Augustine lives and writes passionately in New York City, juggling her favorite pastime along with school and other necessities such as sleep (occasionally). She would like to publish longer works of her own in the near future.
Brittney Ball is a 16 year old junior at Thurgood Marshall Academy in Washington, DC. She is driven to write so she can express the pain, stories, lessons, and heartache that she and people like her have experienced. Brittney would like the world to know that girls that grow up in poverty are just as determined to succeed in life as anyone else.
Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond has written copy for Nike and L’Oréal, and articles for the Village Voice and Trace Magazine. The Vassar grad’s first screenplay was a Sundance Screenwriters’ Lab Finalist. Brew-Hammond is currently at work on her debut novel, Powder Necklace.
Shankea N. Brooks is 17 years old and currently in the foster care system. She has been writing since she was fourteen, when she was placed in the system. It helps to write her feelings down. In the future she would like to publish her own book and make a career as a writer.
Candice Brown originally from Trinidad and Tobago, is currently a junior in high school. She believes there is something in writing which holds an incalculable power. Candice aspires to be professional writer.
Jennifer Carcamo is 15 and a straight A sophomore at HighTechHigh- LA. She is of Hispanic origin and loves to write fiction stories, short stories, and poetry. Jennifer is the Editor in Chief of her school’s on-line magazine as well as involved in the school poetry club.
Jennifer Patricia A. Carino is a 24 year old poet, musician, and visual artist who lives and writes in Baguio City, in the northern part of the Philippines with her partner, Might, and their two dogs. Jenny’s poems and articles have been published in various Philippine magazines and newspapers including The Philippine Panorama.
Ching-In Chen. Poemsender. A loudmouth organizer hoping for liberation. Sometimes bridge, sometimes islanderdweller. Daughter. Lover. Sister. Karaoke singer. Budding filmmaker. A sunrise. Lover of the thrift store. Keeper of secrets, scraps and misplaced beauty.
April Choi is an aspiring writer and poet who plans to further her study of literature in college. She enjoys reading, writing, singing in the rain and chocolate.
Patricia R. Corbett lives in Maryland with her partner and son. She was raised in Richmond, Virginia where she began her long and tedious pursuit of writing. She has a degree in English from Virginia Union University and teaches high school English. Patricia is the founder of Sisters Rising. She is also published in the Hurston Wright anthology, The Hoot and Hollar of the Owls.
Zoraida Cordova is 18 years old and emigrated from Ecuador when she was seven years old. She lives in New York, where she just graduated from high school. She will attend Marymount Manhattan College in New York City and major in English.
Marie Cornejo is 23 years old and resides in Frederick, Maryland. She has a four year old son who happens to be her hero. Cornejo graduated from Towson University and is currently attending the University of Phoenix.
Kimberly J. Cosier survived junior high school and went on to become an art teacher. She is currently an assistant professor of art education in the Visual Art Department of the Peck School for the Arts at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Cosier presently serves as Co-President of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trangender/Queer Issues Caucus of the National Art Education Association (NAEA).
Stephanie Croft is 17 years old and lives in England. She is currently in school studying for her A-Levels in Fine Art, Media Studies and English Language and Literature. She has a part time job at Boots which she really enjoys, and is learning to drive which is fun but terrifying. Stephanie really enjoys writing of all kinds and has applied to study English with Creative Writing at University next September. Apart from that she loves music, shopping and socialising; and generally being young and carefree.
Teri Ellen Cross graduated with a MFA in Creative Writing, Poetry from American University in 2004 and a BS in journalism from Ohio University. She is a graduate of Cave Canem- a weeklong poetry workshop for African American poets. She currently holds the position of poetry coordinator for the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington D.C. She has had poems published in Bum Rush The Page, Cave Canem: Gathering Ground, online at Beltway Quarterly, and in several Cave Canem anthologies.
Cherien Dabis is an Arab American writer and filmmaker with a Masters of Fine Arts in Screenwriting from Columbia University’s School of Arts. She has written several award-winning screenplays and have published personal essays and articles in Mizna and Pride Magazine.
Annie Dawid lives with her son, Isaiah, at 9100 feet in the Sangre de Cristo range of Southern Colorado. Her last book is LILY IN THE DESERT: STORIES (Carnegie Mellon University Press, 2001). She has a prize-winning story upcoming in GLIMMER TRAIN STORIES about a NY family’s intersection with Sept 11. Her first book is a novel, YORK FERRY, still in print from Cane Hill Press.
Aysha Marie Davis is 14 years old and has been writing poetry since the fifth grade. She comes from an artistic family and her love for poetry was influenced by her aunt and grandmother. Aysha hopes one day to become a well known and published writer.
Jessica Del Balzo is a student at Emerson College in Boston. Her work has been published both online and in print journals. Jessica was a student reader at the 2004 Dodge Poetry Festival in New Jersey.
Tashamee Dorsey lives in Florida with the love of her life and their cat Oreo and dog Gemini. She was raised in Roselle, NJ where she first developed her love of story telling from her mother Barbara, brothers, Anthony and Ely, and father Ely. She has a degree in Theater from Rutgers University and plans to pursue an MFA in directing.
Lauren Dudley is 19 years old and attends the University of Central Florida. After college she plans to work at a treatment center for women with eating disorders.
Thembi Duncan – writer, actor, mother, admirer of all things alive.
Yael Flusberg is a DC-based writer and activist who works as a coach and consultant with social change organizations and leaders, and is a co-founder of Sol & Soul, a nonprofit which nurtures and promotes emerging and seasoned artists of conscience.
.jade foster, 20, is a junior at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York. A native Washingtonian she focused on all aspects of writing in high school at Duke Ellington School of the Arts. From a family of mostly women she believes there’s more to becoming a woman than the big things, she think it’s the little things, the things that you forget that make up a life, and it’s her job to write it all down, to remember.
Charneice N. Fox is a writer most of the time, but at least three nights a week you can find her featuring on her red couch watching her kids dance uncontrollably to Green Day and occasionally joining in on her skilled air guitar. Her many hats include poet, artist management for Genesis Poets and Producer and CEO of Straight No Chaser Productions.
Togtokhbayar Ganzorig is an 18 year old poet originally from Mongolia. She grew up in California, Washington D.C. and Mongolia. She is a Liberal Arts major and eventually would like to attend law school. She’s had to constantly change her way of life because of her moving so much around the world. Just recently she’s settled down with her family in Arlington, VA.
Jessica W. Giles is Assistant Professor of Psychology and Human Development at Vanderbilt University. She received her PhD from the University of California at San Diego in 2004. Her scholarly research focuses on the development of social cognition, and she is particularly interested in gender development, violence prevention, and children’s involvement in the legal system. Her creative writing deals with themes of femininity, violation, resilience, emotion, and the sexual body.
Alicia M. Greene was born on the small Caribbean island of Antigua but grew up in the state of Maryland. Currently enrolled at American University she is pursing a degree in Spanish with a minor in international studies. Alicia is also interested in song writing, short stories, plays, scripts, singing, dancing, drawing, painting, and ice skating.
alexis pauline gumbs has been a queerly colored black afro-caribbean girl for twenty-three years. She is a PhD student in English at Duke University, studying gender and resistance in the African Diaspora. She is a planning committee and faciliting body member of the International Black Youth Summit, and when she creates she is almost a woman.
Amber Hendricks is the daughter of military parents and was born in Kansas City, MO. She has always enjoyed writing poetry and short stories to entertain her family. She attended Mississippi Valley State University where she reigned as Miss MVSU, the campus queen, from 2004-2005. Amber is currently an English graduate student at Northwestern State University of Louisiana. Her dream is to work in administration and ultimately be a college president.
Mary Cate Hennessey is 16 years old and from St. Louis, Missouri. After graduation she plans to move to Montana and eventually go into the field of education. She has always written, and is happy to have the opportunity to share her work in this anthology.
Jillian Hernandez is Curatorial Associate at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in North Miami where she developed the innovative art outreach program for at-risk teenage girls, Women on the Rise!.
C. Sala Hewitt is a writer, director, and performance artist. As a director she has directed a number of ground breaking threatre productions including “What It Iz! The Spokenwordical” (Blackout Arts Collective, 2006),”Descendants of Freedom” (by Andre Lancaster, 2004), “Lagrimas de Cocodrilo/Crocodile Tear” (by Ingrid Rivera, 2003) and “E to Jamaica Center” (by Justin E. Turner, 2002).
Natalie E. Illum is an activist, writer and federal employee. Natalie is a founding board member of mothertongue, a spoken word and creative writing organization in DC for women and girls (www.mothertongue.org). She has an MFA in Creative Writing from American University and teaches poetry through a variety of local community venues. Having just returned from touring with her Chapbook, Ground Lover, Natalie is almost ready to finish working on a memoir about her disability called Spastic.
Jocelyn James is a nomad from California. She divides her time between writing poems & short stories, designing her anjelkist t-shirt line and earning a living. Jocelyn celebrates artists who reflect a feminist awareness.
Jane Jiang is a high school senior at Lakeside School in Seattle, Washington. She has been writing for as long as she can remember and has won numerous national awards for her poetry and prose.
Whitney A. Jones is a senior in high school.
Lisa Joyner, writer and performance poet, was born and raised in Baltimore, MD. She earned her Bachelor of Arts from Central State Univeristy, Wilberforce, OH. In 2000, she relocated from Atlanta, GA to Washington, DC, where she currently lives. In 2004, she self-published her first book of poetry, Magnolia.
Sheba Karim is 29 years old and recently quit her job as a public interest attorney to pursue an MFA in fiction from the Iowa Writer’s Workshop. While dividing her time between New York and Iowa, she is working on a collection of short stories and a young adult novel.
Jennifer Karmin is a poet, artist, and educator, who has published, performed, exhibited, taught, and experimented with language throughout the U.S. and Japan. Currently at home in Chicago, she is a founding member of the public art group Anti Gravity Surprise, curator with the SpareRoom Time-Arts Cooperative, and co-host of the Red Rover Reading Series. Jennifer works as a Poet-in-Residence in the Chicago Public Schools and teaches creative writing to immigrants at Truman College.
Keturah Kendrick is a native of New Orleans the Beautiful. She is an artist and educator who currently resides in New York City. She has done stand up comedy, written and starred in her own one-woman show and her humorous and insightful outlooks on life have appeared in The Louisiana Weekly, Salon.com,and numerous other publications.
Carissa Kiepert is a senior at Port Washington High School with plans of attending culinary school in Chicago. She has been writing short stories since the third grade. She hopes that her story will help other girls to understand that people go through terrible things and still manage to overcome it.
Tanis Kwanette is the pen name for a Louisiana born and raised black lesbian writer. She followed her heart to the Washington, DC area in 1999. A house and five dogs later she calls DC home. Social worker by day, her dream is to write the great American lesbian love novel and have furless babies with Karma, her partner of seven years.
Joy Lee was was born in Taipei, Taiwan and moved to the States with her family when she was just nine years old. She now lives in Westford, Massachusetts. Joy is a junior at Bowdoin College (Class of ‘07), studying sociology with a minor in chemistry. She loves Jesus, words, community service, and dinners by electric light.
Siobhan Leftwich was born in New York City and raised in the Poconos and upstate New York. Siobhan has written for Black Enterprise, Vibe, Essence, BET.com and a host of smaller publications. She loves to write short stories for the generation of biracial black women who are coming of age and trying to make sense of their place in this mad world.
Raina J. Leon is currently a doctoral student in education at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Her work has been featured in AntiMuse, Furnace Review, Farmhouse Review, the Poetic Voices without Borders anthology from Gival Press and the upcoming Cave Canem 10th Anniversary Anthology.
Lilli Lewis grew up on a dirt road outside of Athens, Georgia where she mostly enjoyed playing in her father’s garden and going on scavenger hunts. Lilli, a self-proclaimed (and celebrated) “FatGirl” is a singer/songwriter/composer based in Atlanta, GA, and is currently in love with the downright revolutionary notion of possibilty.
Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa is 56 years old and a retired high school English teacher and librarian. She has been teaching creative writing to teenagers for 30 years. Her work has appeared in various literary journals and most recently, Chicken Soup for the Latino Soul.
Tess McCray is currently a junior at the University of Missouri - St. Louis and the Pierre Laclede Honors College where she majors in English with a minor in Women’s and Gender Studies. She grew up in a very small town in southern Missouri and regretfully has found that the country has gotten into her blood. Tess would ideally love to live in a secluded log cabin on a lake somewhere, while teaching at the college level.
Christine McFarlane, 32, is a First Nations woman of Saulteaux background studying at the University of Toronto. Christine was in the foster care system and a ward of the Children’s Aid Society until she was nineteen. She was in and out of the psychiatric system throughout her twenties and it wasn’t until 2004 that she finally made steps to stop her self abuse and enter into recovery. Christine is still in recovery for an eating disorder. Christine would like her story to offer hope to others who may have been in similar situations.
Claire B. Mischker is a native of South Carolina and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. at the University of Mississippi. Her poetry has appeared in storySouth, and she is the fiction editor for the 2006 issue of The Yalobusha Review.
Liza Monroy has lived all over the world. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, Village Voice, Time Out New York and has a piece upcoming in a 2006 anthology from Seal Press.
Christina Owens is a child of Southern trailer parks and has since lived in England, Seattle, and Japan. She is currently a graduate student in Cultural Studies at the University of California-Davis. In 2005, she was published in Outside of Ordinary: An Anthology of Women’s Travel Stories. Both her dad and her little brother are currently in the South Carolina prison system.
Rasheedah Phillips is 21 years old and resides in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She is the proud mother of her seven year old daughter, Iyonna, and a first year student at Temple University James E. Beasley School of Law. Rasheedah is also an advocate and mentor to teenage mothers.
Faye Pompey has been in the custody of the state of Maryland since 2002. Living from pillar to post for the majority of her time in the system, she has decided to make something out of the fact that she was taken from the streets and given something to appreciate. Writing is her therapy.
Tina Pryce is a graduate of Duke Ellington School of the Arts. She has been writing poetry, creative fiction and non-fiction since she was six years old. She has performed her works in various settings such as the Millennium Sound Stage at the Kennedy Center; the Library of Congress; at various coffee houses and events across the city of Washington, DC. Tina graduated number six in her high school class and is currently an honor student at Trinity University, majoring in Journalism or Law.
Roma Raye is a 28 year old stone butch being polished up by a crafty red-headed femme in a little house in Seattle that they share with a cute blonde who wants to be a fairy knight, and an emotional, “no you’re not a lap dog” pit bull. Raye is a special education teacher.
Elisabeth Robinson is a 14 year old freshman at Thurgood Marshall Academy and resides in Washington, DC. She writes when life gets “too tremendous.” She writes for herself and girls like her.
Lea Robinson a queer-identified, African-American woman, Robinson has observed young women in sports attempting to prove their femininity (or, heterosexuality) through eating disorders, promiscuity and the adoption of homophobic behaviors. Her own struggles with homophobia and racism in sports have encouraged her to come out as a lesbian, and act as an ally to younger college athletes. She is currently the Head Women’s Basketball coach at Newbury College near Boston.
Tracey Rose is a writer/filmmaker living in Brooklyn, New York.
asmara ruth was born in a cold town during a cold month. She left at age 20, in search of warmer weather and a place where she fit. She has lived some of everywhere and done some of everything. She now plans to return to her birthplace and spend her thirties building home.
Vanessa Seay is an 8th grader at Newport Mill Middle school. She is bi-racial and has two brothers. She is an avid reader and loves writing about a lot of things. Vanessa and her friends are looking forward to attending high school in the fall.
J. Scales - musician • poet • artist • performer
darlene anita scott is a native of Delaware and currently lives in Richmond, Virginia. Recipient of a 2001-2002 poetry fellowship from the Virginia Commission for the Arts, darlene published a chapbook, moss, and is at work on her first full length collection, Conjugal Visit.
Kimberly Jane Simms is the director of Wits End Poetry, a non-profit poetry organization in Greenville, SC. Her publishing credits include The Asheville Poetry Review, Eclipse, Plains Song Review, The Millennium Sampler of SC Poetry, AIM Magazine, and London’s Ape Magazine. She is a first generation American who holds a Masters in British and American Literature from Clemson University and a BA in literature from Furman University.
Ethel Morgan Smith, Associate Professor of English at West Virginia University, is the author of From Whence Cometh My Help: The African American Community at Hollins College. Smith has been published in national and international journals. She has received many awards and fellowships, including a Fulbright to the University of Tubingen in Germany, and a Rockefeller Foundation fellowship in Bellagio, Italy.
Tricia Snell is originally from South Bend, Indiana. She has one brother, one sister, two parents, two stepparents, a stepbrother, and two stepsisters. Currently, she is pursuing her Masters of Social Work at the University of Denver in Denver, Colorado where she lives with her husband and two dogs.
Laura Still lives in Knoxville, Tennessee with her two sons. She is a USTA certified tennis umpire and the assistant poetry editor for New Millennium Writings. She is also a member of the Knoxville Writers Guild.
Amy Sturm was born in a coastal town in England twenty-eight years ago. She has been writing since age twelve and now focuses on an English major at Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia. In her free time Amy enjoys horseback riding, songwriting, and caring for her three cats.
Lacy Sundine 2nd time in foster care, 2nd time in Day treatment, Domestic violence in family background, 2nd time on probation, and in and out of placement since 6th grade, now in 9th grade.
Sonya Renee Taylor is a performance poet, actress, educator, activist, and 2004 National Poetry Slam Champion. Combining a M.S. in Organizational Management, B.A. in Sociology, and an extensive experience in women’s issues, HIV prevention, and working with at-risk youth Sonya Renee has developed an uncanny ability to address contemporary issues with grace and power that is never dogmatic.
Danielle Ramona Thomas is 16 years old and a Literary Media student at Duke Ellington School of the Arts. She has always had a love for literature; writing, reading and analyzing. When Danielle grows up she would like to be a broadcast journalist.
Roxi Trapp-Dukes a native Washingtonian is a 2004 graduate of Howard University, holding a BFA in Theater. Since graduation she was awarded the 2005 Young Artist Grant from the DC Commission Arts and Humanities to produce a series of her written works. The series entitled A Woman’s Liberation debuted at the Flashpoint Mead Theater in November of 2005, The Only Black Girl was included in the production. In addition to her writing, Roxi works frequently in production management (theater & film) in DC and New York, and is a working dance choreographer and actress.
Janet Vega is 28 years old, married, and mother to two beautiful boys. She is currently attending Morton College for an Associates in Office Management Technology. Janet became pregnant at 18 and married soon after. Over the years, she and her husband have worked hard to maintain their marriage and keep their family together.
Dinh Vong is a graduate student who lives in Tempe, Arizona. She is a native of Fresno, California, where her family settled after emigrating from Vietnam in 1980. Vong is currently teaching and working towards an MFA in Creative Writing at Arizona State University.
Maikong Vue currently attends Saint Paul public high school. She has dreams of attending college on the east coast and pursing her interest in cinematography, journalism, or fashion. She loves to read and do creative writing pieces. Maikong is also a foreign film junkie, plays badminton and highly competitive.
B. Lois Wadas is a native New Yorker who lives and thrives in NYC. Her work has been published nationally and in Canada. She is also a playwright.
Katharine Walker spends her days going to college and working. During her down time she enjoys reading books of substance, writing, and simply enjoying life. Katharine’s greatest inspiration is her mother, who taught her everything she needs to know, and let her grow into the person she is today.
Seshat Y. Walker has been deeply rooted in the Washington, DC art scene as a writer, activist, educator, publicist, and consultant for the past ten years. Her work has appeared in The Hoot and Hollar of the Owls and the upcoming Writerscorp Anthology.
Jackie Warren – Moore is a poet, mother, wife, playwright, ten year former newspaper columinist of The Syracuse Post Standard. She makes her home in Syracuse, New York where she conducts readings and workshops in prisons. Jackie is also a writer-in-residence with the Syracuse School District.
Kelly Warren is Australian and spent two years living in Japan. She is now in the process of writing a comical adventure tale about the experience. Kelly is currently studying Japanese at university at Griffith University on the Gold Coast Australia.
Katrese Watts is a 30 year old single mother of two beautiful girls. She is a full time college student, majoring in paralegal studies, with plans to attend law school after graduation. She loves to write poetry, songs, and stories. Katrese would like to publish a book of poems in the future.
Rachel White, 26, a native of Delaware, is a writer and artist-activist currently living in Washington, DC. Although she has been writing poetry and fiction since she was a child, she only recently started trying to get her work published. She has been published in dividedDCity, a DC publication sponsored by Sol & Soul. For a living she plays with children of all ages.
Latiffany Wright is 24 years old and resides in Chicago, Illinois with her daughter. She is a student in the Masters of Fine Arts program at Chicago State University and plans to write full time after completing her degree.
Nora Yates is a queer rural femme lesbian who grew up in Upstate New York in a lovely town with one stop light and year-round blinking Christmas lights. Professionally, Nora advocates for LGBT communities on a statewide level and works hard to ensure that the underrepresented and often intentionally-quieted identities of the LGBT movement are heard loud and clear.
Jewel Sophia Younge has used several pen names in her career. She has published a short story, “Roots Thing Dirty,” a short play, a poems in magazines ranging from English Journal to Rolling Out. New York artist Uraline Hager featured Younge’s work in New York and Havana exhibits. Younge also worked on Coquie Hughe’s most recent film “Did I Just Look at Her.” Younge is a St. Louis playwright who teaches, writes, and resides in Chicago, Illnois.