Asian Anthology: literary journal co-founded by local high schoolers

Courtesy of Asian Anthology

An art piece submission, “Serenity’s Embrace: Canyon Whispers” by Claire Kim from Issue 1: “Make Your Dreams Come True.”

Amidst a STEM dominated society, Notre Dame High juniors Rio Funatsu and Amabelle Nguyen were linked with the same burning passion for humanities. They wanted to create something impactful while also expressing their love for literary works. While brainstorming potential approaches to various media forms, the idea of a literary journal suddenly came to them.

In the fall of 2023, they decided to start Asian Anthology, a literary journal that includes various literary works including poetry and prose, artwork, photography, creative nonfiction and fiction — with an emphasis on featuring student artists of Asian descent from grades 7-12.

The journal is based in Notre Dame High and solely run by Funatsu and Nguyen, who serve as the editors of the journal. By running Asian Anthology, they aim to foster an environment promoting creativity among Asian youth. 

“We wanted to start Asian Anthology because we saw a racial divide — how Asian people weren’t encouraged to enter creative spaces,” Nguyen said. “And we both happen to really love humanities and everything about writing.”

As the only staff members in the journal, Funatsu and Nguyen are responsible for multiple tasks including running the social media accounts, maintaining the website and reviewing literary submissions. 

“Having a partner is super important for us,” Nguyen said. “Like for me personally, if it was just me I would never get anything done. But [having a partner] is really good because we do this together and have a similar passion.”

To seek feature stories, Funatsu and Nguyen reach out to English teachers from schools around the Bay Area and introduce their journal and purpose. When receiving submissions, Funatsu and Nguyen both feel they gain a sense of amazement and appreciation from being able to work with other students and to see their creative inspiration.

“Most of the stories that come through do get published, because we want to make sure that everybody’s voices are heard and represented,” Funatsu said.

Their first issue was published on Jan. 13 — National Making Dreams Come True Day — hence, the theme was: “Make Your Dreams Come True.” Their second issue, called “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion,” was published on March 8, International Women’s Day.

Over the past few months, both editors believed that working on the journal has given them the opportunity to enhance their technical skills, through building the website and creating digital cover art for the journal.

“We’re both not artists, and it’s things like that make us think: ‘Whoa, it’s actually kind of difficult to do this [layout and design], but it’s so fun,” Funatsu said.

When creating Asian Anthology, Funatsu and Nguyen went in knowing that it would be challenging, but they soon realized that their deep interest in the journal pushed them to combat their initial struggles. And for the future of the journal, Funatsu and Nguyen are actively looking for more members to join. 

“Something I’ve learned from the experience is the importance of having other voices within the team itself,” Funatsu said. “But we want to make sure we pass it on to someone with just as much passion as us.”