10×10

10 Writers

The Bridges

How do you bring to life the stories of girls whose experiences and cultures are so different from your own?

It wasn't long into pre-production before we began asking ourselves this question. We wanted to be sure that we made a film that showed the way these girls see themselves, not just what we saw in them. We quickly recognized the need for a bridge between our girls and our worldview. Our solution was one of the things that makes 10x10 truly unique. Each girl's story is told by a talented woman writer from her own country. These international writers bring to the film their own experiences and intimate knowledge of the cultures, while also serving as models of success for girls everywhere.

Haiti

Edwidge Danticat

Edwidge is a standout literary talent both in Haiti and the United States. After emigrating from Haiti to New York at age 12, Edwidge has never lost her profound ties with her homeland. Her writing is a testament to the richness of Haitian life and to the power of language to bridge cultural divides. Her vision and clarity as a writer provide lucid windows into the lives of Haitian girls, a skill we're proud to have for 10x10.

Cambodia

Loung Ung

Loung is one of the most powerful voices to emerge from modern Cambodia. An orphan of the Khmer Rouge, having fled Pol Pot's brutal regime at the age of 10, Loung's bestselling memoirs have brought home the tragedy of Cambodia for millions of readers. Through the lens of her own extraordinary experience, she speaks directly to the fractured reality of her country as the past continues to reverberate through the present.

Ethiopia

Maaza Mengiste

Maaza is a novelist who possesses a deep pride in her homeland, with its rich and complicated history. She is a writer with both empathy for her characters, and a complicated understanding of the forces that shape their world. She was pleased for an opportunity to write about Ethiopian girls living on the margins. And we are elated to add this Fulbright Scholar and accomplished writer's talents to our efforts.

Nepal

Manjushree Thapa

Manjushree is a writer and activist who's not afraid to take a stand for her deeply held principles. She has written both fiction and non-fiction works that help elucidate the complicated world of modern Nepal. She writes with a full heart and a sharp eye. With a hand in the worlds of anthropology, politics, and human rights, she brings to 10x10 a fierce commitment to protecting the vulnerable through her work and writings.

Peru

Marie Arana

Marie's writing explores and embraces both continents of the Americas, north and south. Born in Lima to a Peruvian father and a American mother, she is deeply engaged in both of their cultures. As a writer of fiction and memoir, she has dedicated herself to explaining each culture to the other. Her committment to Peru, and to the struggles of the disadvantaged there, permeates her work.

Egypt

Mona Eltahawy

Mona is a powerhouse. As a writer she is direct, funny, and unafraid to raise some eyebrows. As a thinker about the role of women in the modern Arab world she is a breath of fresh air. As the events of the Arab Spring have unfolded over the last year, few voices have been as clear, as passionate, or as critical. A prominent voice both in America and her native Egypt, we can't wait to see what Mona brings to 10x10.

India

Sooni Taraporevala

Sooni has always believed that films can have a positive social impact. Her first screenplay for the film Salaam Bombay! helped create awareness and inspired the development of outreach programs for street children in her native Bombay (now Mumbai). A photographer, director, and screenwriter, she continues to be drawn to childrens' issues and brings that unshakable compassion to Ruksana's story.

Afghanistan

Zarghuna Kargar

Zarghuna has done as much to expand our understanding of women in Afghanistan as any writer in the world. She was born in Kabul in 1982. She and her family sought refuge in Pakistan during the Soviet invasion. She completed her education in Peshawar, Pakistan: In 2001 she started working for the BBC World Service Pashto Section, joining the team on the ground-breaking program "Afghan Woman's Hour," as producer and presenter from 2004 to 2010. Her book of stories about women in Afghanistan, Dear Zari, is both inspiring and heart-wrenching. We are so honored to have her as part of the 10x10 team.

Sierra Leone

Aminatta Forna

Aminatta has burst onto the literary scene with a voice that is vivid, passionate, and unafraid. She was born in Glasgow and raised in Sierra Leone and the United Kingdom. In 2007 Aminatta was named by Vanity Fair as one of Africa's most promising new writers. And that was before the publication of her novel The Memory of Love which won the Commonwealth Writers Prize best Book Award 2011 and was short-listed for the 2011 Orange Prize for Fiction and the Warwick Prize.

Uganda

Doreen Baingana

Doreen Baingana has set a goal as a writer to "complicate the negative narrative of Africa." She does so in her acclaimed, award-winning fiction by writing fully drawn characters -- characters who travel universal personal journeys in specific times and places of Uganda, such as the dark days after the Idi Amin regime. Doreen deftly creates environments in which the reader, and now the 10x10 viewer, can step into the shoes of another who lives in a time and space very different from their own.