First Place Winner of the Bright Before Us Writing Contest
for starters this is no tribute poem
the loves of my life have kept and keep me alive, stay living
consider this the proof
required, dancing through hard times furious forever
walking boldly in our truth so blinding
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Second Place Winner of the Bright Before Us Writing Contest
You arrive at your home in Magodo and race up the stairs to hand your mother the medical report you received during your medical evaluation for NYSC Orientation Camp. It’s the summer after you graduate from Nile. The summer you receive the report confirming your PCOS. You had since told your mother about your irregular cycles, the hair strands that suddenly appeared on your chin area, the cramps that always almost take your life, and she’d shushed you and told you it’s nothing. Particularly, for the hair, she said, You should wax it off. It’s unladylike. You don’t want Wonu’s family seeing you like this during the introduction in December.
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Third Place Winner of the Bright Before Us Writing Contest
i wish i could go home
to call your land wholly my own
the sun, a brand on my skin
grief of what should have been paints my bones crimson i live restless on the threshold of an isle
never two feet in
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Bright Before Us Writing Contest Honorable Mention
During my middle school years, my grandpa would leave my grandparents’ house before I woke up and arrive to pack my lunch just as I was waking up. When I would stand at the bathroom sink brushing my teeth, I’d hear the soft jingle of his keys from our porch and the creak of the door as he let himself in.
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Bright Before Us Writing Contest Honorable Mention
“It’s your rat—” the exterminator gargled, “you deal with it!”
He shambled out the front door, each step cracking and slowing more than the last. Also his face was smashed flat into a circle—and this wasn’t even the first exterminator to get horrifically mangled. Three weeks ago, an exterminator left covered in mouse traps. The week after, another wobbled out with their spine bouncing like an accordion. And last week, the poor soul ended up as a pair of eyes on a pile of ash.
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Bright Before Us Writing Contest Honorable Mention
Most people don’t start a personal essay by sharing that the past week has been incredibly emotional—crying at a party, at a conference, at home, but I am doing so— with you, in this piece, and in this regard, I thank these very United States, which I sometimes feel so scared of.
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A conversation between Shout Mouse Press & the Internationally Acclaimed Artist
The cover of Bright Before Us, Like a Flame – Shout Mouse Press’s newest anthology – was designed by interdisciplinary artist Jamilla Okubo, whose work has been exhibited internationally at The House of Fine Arts in London, The Southampton Arts Center, and Mehari Sequar Gallery. Okubo has also designed book covers for Moses, Man of the Mountain, by Zora Neale Hurston and An American Marriage by Tayari Jones, among others.
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For six weeks this summer, 18 youth met in DC’s Dupont Circle neighborhood every Tuesday and Thursday evening to write poetry in explicit conversation with social justice. Their poetry will be compiled in an anthology of poems specific to the experiences of youth in the DC-area. These youth, between the ages of 15 and 23, applied to and were chosen for these workshops due to their collective passion for writing and a desire to work toward a more just world.
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In July 2025, Shout Mouse Press youth authors gathered for our annual Author Talk Training at Planet Word in downtown D.C. This day is always joyful – and offers a chance for authors to prepare to step into the spotlight by practicing public speaking, workshopping with peers, and gaining inspiration from an established guest author.
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On June 3rd, we celebrated the launch of The Light Looks Like Me: Words on Love from Queer Youth at the Apple Carnegie Library in DC with readings from 14 of the anthology’s youth authors, a live DJ set from DJ Franky J, and a powerful performance by poet and writer Denice Frohman.
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For a full week in March, nine student-parent writers met daily at the True Reformer Building in D.C. to write books for our second Mini Mirrors series – books for toddlers that celebrate diverse families and experiences.
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How would you like the world to see Shout Mouse authors?
Brave. Fearless. Worthy. Fighter.
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We’re so excited to share the cover of this novel-in-stories by ten diverse young writers, complete with illustrations and photographs, chronicling the historic year of 2020 in Washington, DC through pandemic, protests, election, and insurrection.
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Everyone deserves to see themselves on the page, starting with our youngest readers. The brand new Mini Mirrors series from Shout Mouse Press features books for toddlers that celebrate diverse families and experiences.
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