Why do you write? To record, to discover, to escape, to create? To spend time in another world, or to delve more deeply into your own?

Whatever the reason, and however you write, when women put pen to paper, it is a way of sharing our words in a world where we are often made to feel our stories aren’t worth being told.

In So Long As You Write, fifteen women writers explore what happens when we give ourselves this space – whether it’s the joy of opening a new notebook or the thrill of a new idea, or the self-doubt and uncertainty that those things can bring. Alongside stories about stubborn characters, poems that grapple with the blank page and essays celebrating the special connection forged through writing communities, there’s also encouragement and advice for your creative practice.

Edited by Kerry Ryan, founder of Write Like a Grrrl, this collection is the perfect place to turn for a reminder that it doesn’t matter who is reading – so long as you write.

Cover illustration by Jo Myler (@jomylerdesign)