Masthead

Emma Zhang

Co-Editor-in-Chief

Emma Zhang lives and writes in San Jose, California. A California Arts Scholar and Alliance of Young Artists and Writers National Best in Grade Winner, her writing has been recognized by the National YoungArts Foundation, the Pulitzer Center, the Adroit Prizes, the American Mathematical Society, the Nancy Thorp Poetry Contest, and the Bay Area Creative Foundation, and appears in Kissing Dynamite, Peach Magazine, Vagabond City Lit, among others. Aside from writing, she enjoys earl gray lattes, Borges’s short stories, math, and biology.

Joyce Lee

Managing Editor

Joyce Lee is a writer and high school senior from the Bay Area, California. An alumna of the Iowa Young Writers Studio and a California Arts Scholar, her work has been recognized by the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, the National Council of Teachers of English, and others. She can usually be found drinking matcha or typing out her newest idea in her bottomless Notes app folder.

Tony Pan

Managing Editor

Tony Pan is a Chinese American poet and photographer based in New York. His work has been published in Phillips Exeter Academy The Summer Times. He is currently an editor for his high school newspaper. He writes mostly poetry and journalism while also experimenting with other forms of writing. Besides writing, he enjoys exploring new hobbies. In his free time, he loves street photography, traveling, and watching thrilling crime scene documentaries of the past. He is also an avid lifter and rows for his school and in his community.

Celina Simone

Co-Editor-in-Chief

Celina Simone writes under the pen-name Celina Naheed, and is an Iranian-American poet and artist from Atlanta, Georgia. Her work has appeared in the Lumiere Review, Aurora Journal, Atlanta Magazine, Words Without Borders, and others. She is the founding editor of the Qafiyah Review, a literary magazine for Middle Eastern North African writers and artists. She was a finalist for Georgia Youth Poet Laureate, and is the author of the micro-chapbook, “Glossary for the Last Iranian in Atlanta.”

Elizabeth Rotunno

Managing Editor

Elizabeth Rotunno is a high school writer based in Massachusetts. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Abducted Cow Magazine and Bardics Anonymous, the latter at which she is a film columnist. She speaks four languages, has been recognized as a National Laureate for the National French Competition, heads her school's interdisciplinary literary magazine, and aspires to become a linguist in the tradition of etymologynerd.

Zara Hafeez Siddiqui

Managing Editor

Zara Hafeez Siddiqui is a writer based in Karachi, Pakistan. With high hopes and dreams of someday majoring in either psychology or international relations, she is currently struggling her way through high school. She is also the editor for her school magazine and is currently working towards completing her flash fiction piece which she hopes to publish one day. Other than enjoying the sound of rain, she is often found procrastinating schoolwork, and instead writing new pieces of poetry.

Zara Seldon

Co-Editor-in-Chief

Zara Seldon is a Pakistani-American poet from Los Angeles, California. She is the founder of her school’s feminist writing club, and a 2024 Get Lit Poetry SLAM Champion. Her work has been recognized by the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards, Blue Marble Review, the Between the Lines: Identity and Belonging Anthology, among others. Outside of writing, she enjoys singing in her local choir and tutoring elementary school students. The best drink she’s ever tried is a “sparkling rhubarb matcha lemonade,” and she doesn’t know when she’ll be able to have it next.

Naomi Ferrao

Managing Editor

Naomi Ferrao is a high school student from India, living in Ghana. She is passionate about literature and is the President of Ghana Must Read at her school, an organisation which aims to spread the love of reading throughout the country. She enjoys reading everything from novels to poetry, historical fiction to mystery. Her favourite books are Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. Aside from reading, she also enjoys baking, embroidery, attempting to befriend cats, and watching a good Netflix show.

Judy Khaled

Associate Editor

Joudy Khaled is an Egyptian high school senior with a passion for art and literature. She is the founder of Veracity, a non-profit that aims to encourage young artists to spread and flourish in their desired fields of art. Her love for art began with her love for writing when she realized it would be possible to delve into millions of worlds with the power of fiction. She founded her school newspaper where she is currently the Editor-in-Chief. Outside of her writing, Joudy enjoys holding deep philosophical conversations with friends and indulging in quality time by doing spontaneous activities.

Fiona Jin

Co-Editor-in-Chief

Fiona Jin is a writer in the Chicago Metropolitan Area. A 2024 YoungArts Winner with Distinction in Writing (Poetry) and Winner in Writing (Spoken Word), her work can be found in the Lumiere Review and is anthologized in CHERRY MOON: Emerging Voices from the Asian Diaspora (GASHER Press 2023). Outside of writing, she loves to paint.

Jane Lee

Managing Editor

Jane Lee is a Korean-American residing in the Bay Area, California. She has been recognized by the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, as well as publications nationally, and is an alum of the Sewanee Young Writers’ Conference. When she is not writing poetry, she edits for her school’s newspaper, leads her art studio’s youth group, and performs as part of the color guard at her school. Otherwise, she can be found sipping on matcha lattes and crocheting Miffy plushies.

Nabeeha Sheikh

Associate Editor

I'm Nabeeha, and I believe it is a privilege I can even call myself an author. Amidst the crashing waves of insecurities, hideouts, obligations of being a daughter and a sister, words have armored me with the strength to go through it all. Cliche as it is, words act as a beacon of light when everything else is diminishing, and thus I have a great reverence for them. So, I'm nabeeha, who writes pieces of poetry and introspective essays, in order to illuminate someone else's wold as well. I try to cultivate this passion of mine to perfection, and I'm glad that Asterlit has given me this opportunity!

Lucien

Associate Editor

Lucien is a Hong Kong based (song)writer who loves the smell of candy stores. Besides having been published in the Eunoia Review, Iceblink Literary Magazine, the Graveyard Zine among many others, he writes songs for his studio band, Orphic. You can find him on Instagram: @delucienal_