WriteGirls Share Their Stories at Ebell Wednesday Evening

Seven special young writers will present their work at the Ebell of Los Angeles on Wednesday evening at Found Words, An Evening of Story Telling. These young writers are part of WriteGirl, a non-profit that pairs professional women writers with underserved high school age girls who learn to write, develop communications skills and build self-confidence over a nine month-long program. The results are stunning.

In Los Angeles county, where the dropout rate is stuck at 50%, every single young girl in the WriteGirl program has gone on to college, according to founder Karen Taylor. Since she started the program in 2001, Taylor’s program has given over 500 girls a voice and the opportunity move past some of the most daunting challenges anyone could face. In 2013, WriteGirl was honored by First Lady Michelle Obama with the National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award. In 2014, Karen Taylor was named CNN Hero.

When Ebell member Cynthia Comsky found out about WriteGirl, she immediately suggested they apply for a grant from the Ebell’s Rest Cottage Association philanthropy group, which makes annual grants to LA County-based organizations that help women and children. Last year the group gave away $180,000 to 18 organizations including Writegirl.

As the producer of PLAYdate, the Ebell play reading series, and the Ebell Playwriting Prize, given to California women playwrights, Comsky wanted to showcase the voices of these young writers and the work of WriteGirl since both are well aligned with the Ebell’s mission of educating women, tracing back to its founding as a club in 1894.

“The Ebell ladies who founded our club would be proud to see us carrying on their tradition of support and education to the next generation of women writers, leaders, and whatever else these young women want to become!” exclaimed Comsky. Wednesday night is a chance for Ebell members and the community see what their grant is supporting.

These are the young women who will be reading their work Wednesday evening.

Addissyn House, age 16, has been a WriteGirl mentee and summer intern for two years. She is in the 10th grade at Culver City High School and is a staff writer on her school paper, The Centuarian. She loves to write fiction and poetry and hopes to one day be a published author and literary editor.

Sandra Moore, age 16, wrote a terrible romantic fantasy novel when she was in fifth grade and is both fiercely proud and embarrassed of it. Since then, her writing has hopefully improved. She’s a junior at South Pasadena High School and enjoys drawing, reading, and writing articles for her school’s newspaper, Tiger Newspaper. Sandra has been in WriteGirl for several months.

Imani Brooks, age 19, loves to write poetry and fiction. She recently graduated DaVinci Design High School and has been in WriteGirl for a year. She would love to travel & inspire others.

Luna Garcia is a fifteen-year-old sophomore at Renaissance Arts Academy who enjoys reading and writing personal essays. Think of her as a poor man’s David Sedaris, or one of those really smart birds who brings shiny objects to people who feed them. This is her third year with WriteGirl.

Sha’Terra Myles is extremely passionate about writing. She is 17 years old and a senior at University High School, and has been in WriteGirl for two years. Her writing pieces are often inspired by her current emotion and the type of songs she is listening to. She plans to complete college then travel the world.

Savannah House, age 13, is a hard working student in 8th grade, at New Los Angeles Charter Middle School. She loves writing about her own life in journals and has done many things with writing in many different genres such as: poetry, novels, memoirs and biographies. Savannah wants to be a teacher when she grows up and is always looking for ways to achieve small goals to get herself there. She has been in WriteGirl for one year, going into her second.

The performance starts promptly at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $10 for Ebell members, $12 for non-members. Reservations can be made by phone at 323-931-1277 extension 131 or by email at  [email protected]. Online purchases can be made at www.EbellEventTickets.com. Free parking in the West Lot.