Teachers of writing strive for authenticity. When they ask students to write, they want it to be for authentic purposes. When they engage students in writing processes, they want those to be authentic processes. When they ask students to compose a particular kind of text, thye want those texts to be authentic genres reflecting authentic writing situations in which students might find themselves. In this article, the author proposes that authenticity requires actions related to four areas: authentic process, authentic genre, authentic audience, and authentic teachers and students.