WriteGirl

Join us for a WriteGirl poetry reading at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books this weekend! WriteGirl alums will be performing this Sunday, April 19, 2026 at 12:30pm on the Poetry Stage. We hope you can join us to support them at this FREE community event! This special WriteGirl reading will celebrate our 25th anniversary year!

Actor Sandy Green will be emcee, and Suzanne Lummis will be joining us as a special guest poet!

Learn more at latimes.com/fob

Dr. Joyce Ashuntantang is a poet, actress, interdisciplinary scholar, & Professor of English at the University of Hartford. She discusses the importance of movement in poetry, and how it’s sometimes a necessary writing tool:

“When I am writing poems that have to do with youth, that have to do with hope… there has to be movement. Hope has to be a verb. It’s something you do. You can’t hope without action.”

At WriteGirl we believe in the unique power of writing to inspire, unite, enlighten, spark change and lift us up.

In celebration of National Poetry Month and also WriteGirl’s 25th Anniversary, we've assembled a team of WriteGirl alums who are some of the top youth poets in Los Angeles to write poems of hope just for you during these challenging times.

Now through April 15th, make a donation to WriteGirl and we’ll send a hope-filled poem straight to your inbox. Couldn't your inbox use some good vibes? Or donate in honor of someone who could use a boost and we'll send the poem to them.

Donate today at https://www.writegirl.org/donate.