By Nina Huang
NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY
Janae Lu
Despite wanting to be a doctor at first, Janae Lu, 17, found her high school English classes much more interesting than science.
Lu was born and raised in Redmond to immigrants from Japan and the Philippines.
As a child, she was influenced by her dad’s Filipino side and the television show, “Grey’s Anatomy,” and wanted to be a doctor.
She applied to Tesla STEM School, where she is a high school junior now to pursue sciences, but realized the literary arts was her calling.
“I’ve been really fortunate to take great English classes and have great relationships with my English teachers,” she said.
Lu started writing poetry during her freshman year and calls her interest “coincidental.”
She was attending office hours for her computer science class and a classmate who was in the fellowship program was practicing and reciting a poem for an event that evening.
Lu always thought poetry was written in meters, had to rhyme, or was only about nature or love. But that poem that inspired her was about generational injustice and it broadened her view of what poetry could be.
At that time, Lu was going through a rough period. Her mom, who had struggled with addiction, relapsed after being clean for several years. Lu had a lot of feelings and thoughts, but no place to channel them.
She started to put her thoughts on paper.
“I didn’t know how to deal with it other than going to therapy. It was like grieving someone who’s still alive, and it was very healing to put that into words,” she said.
Her friend took her to her first open mic and Lu remembered getting on stage and speaking quietly until someone in the back of the room shouted, “We want to hear you!”
“I found so much community in that. It became my space where I could share my story and it didn’t have to be a burden on anyone. It could just be art,” she said.
Lu also writes a lot about social justice and issues that people deem as too cliche. She recently spoke about the Dobbs v. Jackson case and also wrote a poem, ‘Too Good,’ about how women are trained to be good, even in situations where they’re put in unsafe situations.
In fact, Lu shared ‘Too Good’ when she opened for Abraham Verghese at Benaroya Hall last November. The poem also goes into generational teachings that we teach our daughters to be good because being good is what keeps you safe.
“It has been a dream of mine ever since I started writing. I got a standing ovation and it was genuinely one of the best moments of my life,” she said.
“When I’m given a stage and audience like at Benaroya Hall, I feel obligated to share something impactful. We’re just constantly taught by society that we have to be kind, be nice, and be gentle in the wake of violence. It’s always a process to pick one, but I considered the audience and everything—it felt right,” she explained.
Lu invited her friends and teachers and it was such a heartfelt moment to see her people stand for her.
“It was like a ‘I made it’ moment for me and it was really special.”
“I also write about diaristic and confessional styles; inner musings and grief, relationship with my mom, experience of being a teenager and not really knowing, grappling with deciding how I want to move forward in my future and things like that,” Lu said.
“Growing up in an immigrant household, it’s been interesting to see how different it is compared to my dad’s. It’s something I reflect on a lot—the generational trauma and post-colonialism in the stories that we carry.”
Her English teacher from freshman year, Annie Fort, was the one who inspired her to get into poetry.
Lu used to stay after school every week to talk about classical poems and learn about poetry mechanics like rhyme schemes and iambic pentameter.
Fort has been in Lu’s corner during her high school years. When Lu was hospitalized for an eating disorder, Fort took the time to call and check in on her.
“She’s someone who has really been supportive. She believed in me and encouraged me to get published in magazines and journals. Before every reading, I would show her my work and we would practice and she’d give me feedback,” Lu said.
Some of Lu’s favorite poets include Ada Limón, Jane Hirshfield, and Mary Oliver.
Lu found out about the Seattle Arts & Lectures (SAL) fellowship program through a friend who inspired her to start writing. Lu recalled being reluctant to apply because she was scared of rejection.
When youth apply to the Youth Poetry Fellowship, they indicate whether they’d like to be considered for the title of the Youth Poet Laureate. A selection committee composed of alumni of the program, the mentors, and the SAL staff review those applications and decide who the laureate will be, Indira Dahlstrom, SAL Youth Programs Associate, shared in an email.
Lu was named the 2024/2025 Seattle Youth Poet Laureate.
The Seattle Youth Poet Laureate program aims to identify young writers and leaders who are committed to civic and community engagement, poetry and performance, and leadership and education across Seattle.
Through the program, the fellows (aged 14 to 19) meet monthly and engage in workshops together.
“One of my favorite parts has been being able to connect with youth that write poetry. There isn’t a poetry club at school, and to meet other young people that write poetry is great,” she said.
Lu shared that most of the open mics that she’s been to have mostly been adults and she felt isolated being the only adolescent. So to find a community through the fellowship to share this common passion together was amazing.
SAL partners with Poetry Northwest to support the publication of Seattle Youth Poet Laureates’ first collections.
When they reached out to her with the acceptance news, she thought they had emailed the wrong person.
“I really could not comprehend that it happened. It’s been one of the wildest experiences of my life, like being able to have opportunities to publish a book,” she said.
She acknowledged that it takes some people several years to get a book deal and she’s been grateful for the speaking engagements and the opportunity to work with an organization that believes in the power of words, youth, and representing minority voices.
“I find it breathtaking how difficult it is to come up with just one way to encapsulate the triumphant force I have watched Janae become; in not just her presence, but as she emerges into the world wielding emotion and truth in her language like precise, cutting, beautiful instruments,” Lu’s mentor, Adhi Kona, shared in an email. “She is a source of profound light and strength, and I have had the honor of being there to witness her grow on every stage, in every poem, and at every opportunity. If I have the chance to say just one thing to those reading: she is brilliant, and she is only just getting started.”
Lu’s chapbook called ‘In All Spaces Liminal,’ which is a collection of 24 poems, will be published this June by Poetry Northwest.
Nina can be reached at newstips@nwasianweekly.com.