Our Mission
Cathartic Youth Literary Magazine is an online magazine run by and for youth, offering a space for any young person to publish their thoughts and stories. Our project started off with two goals: 1) to foster conversations about mental health and break the stigma around discussing emotional struggles, and 2) to create an open platform for young people to publish writing without the barriers of submission fees, cover letters, and long response times. With the COVID-19 pandemic, mental health issues are becoming increasingly prevalent, and we hope to use writing as a tool to heal and make sense of the complicated situation we've found ourselves in.
Studies have shown that mindfulness and writing about stress help to reduce levels of cortisol, a hormone whose buildup can lead to anxiety, depression, and other mental health conditions. Writing helps us to understand our own identities and experiences; it is both an escape and a vehicle to delve into our own struggles and our own healing. We wish to encourage mindfulness and mental health discussion so that we can reduce the stigma around mental health and create a pathway to healing, as this issue is something so important and present yet almost taboo in the modern culture.
Studies have shown that mindfulness and writing about stress help to reduce levels of cortisol, a hormone whose buildup can lead to anxiety, depression, and other mental health conditions. Writing helps us to understand our own identities and experiences; it is both an escape and a vehicle to delve into our own struggles and our own healing. We wish to encourage mindfulness and mental health discussion so that we can reduce the stigma around mental health and create a pathway to healing, as this issue is something so important and present yet almost taboo in the modern culture.
Meet the Founder
Anna Kiesewetter is a high school junior from Issaquah, Washington. Her short stories have been recognized by the Scholastic Writing Awards, most recently earning a Gold Key and American Voices Award nomination; and her work is published or forthcoming in the Blue Marble Review, the Trouvaille Review, Skipping Stones Literary Magazine, Kalopsia Literary Journal, and elsewhere. Currently, she works as an editor at Polyphony Lit Magazine. Anna's literary journey has been a myriad of ups and downs, including many polite rejections; yet through it all, writing has remained an outlet she turns to in times of anxiety and insecurity. She hopes to provide an open platform for other young writers to express themselves without boundaries and find their own catharsis.
Meet the Editorial Team
Maggie Sun is 17 years old and currently lives in Southern California. Her writing has been recognized by the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, and an ethics case she co-wrote won the National Ethics Bowl Case Competition. She loves collecting phone cases (her current favorite has Buttercup from the Powerpuff girls on it) and hairpins, though she is often denounced at home as a hoarder. Poetry and journalism are her writing styles of choice, though as an editor she hopes to inspire and be inspired!
Anya Trofimova is a young poet from London, where she studies at St Paul’s Girls' School. Her poetry has appeared in numerous publications and anthologies, including Planet in Peril (Fly on the Wall Press) and Poetry Birmingham Literary Journal (Pallina Press), and has been recognised by the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award, Saltaire Festival Poetry Competition, Erbacce Prize, Felix Dennis Young Poets Competition and the Poetry Society, among others. When she is not writing, you can find her drinking ice tea, talking about social contract theory and championing the causes she cares about: serving underprivileged communities, women’s rights, political activism, environmental action, the list goes on… Oh, and she also works on the editorial boards of the Siblíní Journal and Sandpiper Magazine.
Eliza Mahon is a fifteen-year-old aspiring writer from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. She has always loved reading and writing, and her work has been published in Island Shores, a poetry anthology created by the Poetry Institute of Canada. She has been in the AP English stream for four years now, and she is currently exploring the genre of narrative essays, though she loves all genres of writing.
Kawther Said is 17 years old and currently a high school junior from Chantilly, Virginia. She is experienced with journalism and producing a newspaper, having spent one year taking a journalism class in school and another year producing the school news magazine. Her work has been published in Uncaged Magazine, and she is also an active member of her school's Art and Literary magazine.
Gracie Nordgren is 18 years old and lives just outside Denver, Colorado. Currently, she is a senior in high school, but this May she will graduate with an Associate's Degree in English as well as her high school diploma. After that, she will move on to the University of Colorado Boulder to complete a Bachelor's in English. Gracie has always been passionate about literary art, as she has seen firsthand the impact it can have. Last year she was published in the March edition of an online journal, The South Broadway Ghost Society. Ever since she has been looking to get involved further in the literary world, in order to both impact through art and be impacted.
Amanda Kay is a current sophomore at Santa Clara High School in California. She has been nationally recognized by the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers through the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards. Through editing, she hopes to learn more about the art others puts out and what makes each person special.
Avalon Felice Lee is an Asian-American sixteen-year-old sophomore at Notre Dame San Jose High School in California. She has been writing prose since the age of eleven, thanks to her author-mentor-mother. When not writing, she’s probably practicing cello, assaulting the ears of nearby victims. When she grows up, she wants to be an author. And a millionaire.
Kirtan Savith Kumar is a student from Hwa Chong Junior College, Singapore, passionate in all things literature. His work has been recognized by 101 Words, Zen Garden, and the L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Contest. He enjoys writing poetry and reading YA novels in his free time.
Thomas Van Pelt is a 17-year-old from South Brunswick, New Jersey. Ever since he was little, his favorite subject in school was always reading. In fact, one of his earliest memories is his mother reading "The Hungry Caterpillar" to him on the couch. His love for literature has only grown throughout high school, and one of his favorite pastimes in the evening is embracing a great book.
Isha Rudramurthy is a junior from Issaquah High School in Washington. Writing is one of her favorite hobbies and her work has been recognized regionally and statewide by the Scholastic Awards and the Reflections art program. As an editor, she hopes to encourage young writers as well as build on her own skills.
Jennie Jeon is a junior from Washington. She has always been a passionate writer, and her favorite genres are creative nonfiction and original oratory. Jennie has received recognition for her work in KAIAC Forensics competitions and has taken several creative writing courses through the Center for Talented Youth program. As an editor, Jennie hopes to cultivate her creativity and inspire others to seek writing as a safe haven.
Aditi Pauls is a junior at Issaquah High School. She's loved to both read and write since she was young, and she's written many short stories, many of which were ways to express things she didn't know how to say aloud. She's excited to be an editor for Cathartic Lit, and to lift up other teen writers!
Petek Mertan is a 17-year-old from Washington and currently a junior. She's always enjoyed writing since she was young and trying new styles such as poetry and flash fiction. Young writers often offer the most creative and thoughtful outlooks on the world, and she's excited to help empower fellow peers as an editor.
