The use of authentic texts in language teaching, learning and assessment has been an area of discussion among teachers, researchers and scholars in the field. Thus, this was a study aimed at investigating the effects of authentic texts on EFL learners’ paragraph writing skills and their perception in English writing classroom. The study was carried out in Abay Dar Secondary and Preparatory school with particular reference to grade 11. The research employed a quasi-experimental research design in which the experimental students were assigned to write a paragraph using some selected authentic texts (short stories, newspapers, brochures) while those in the control group were assigned to write a paragraph without authentic texts. Writing test and questionnaire were the main data collecting instruments. The paragraph writing test was used to assess students’ writing skill before and after the intervention, and the questionnaire was employed to find out students’ perception towards authentic texts. After that, the collected data were analyzed quantitatively using descriptive statistics, independent t-test and paired test. The finding revealed that there was a significant difference (P value 0.033) between the control and the experimental groups in their writing score after intervention because the experimental students achieved better than the control group during the posttest. This result was supported by the questionnaire results in which the participants showed positive opinion in writing a paragraph using authentic texts. This implied that authentic texts such as newspaper, short stories, brochures and pictures triggered students’ motivation and helped them in improving their writing skill. Due to this, textbook compilers and teachers should consider the value of authentic texts in the writing classroom, and they should design authentic writing activities based on the students’ level, need and linguistic proficiency.