City of Asylum Youth Poet Laureate of Allegheny County
2023-2024
Hallie Dong (董孺湛) (she/her) is a sixteen-year-old high school student, poet, and activist. She is founder and Editor-In-Chief of The Mindful Student, an online magazine highlighting stories of mental illness while fostering community and unity. She is one of five North American Finalists for the Harvard Crimson Global Essay Contest, and a first-place winner in The Diversity Story’s international cultural writing competition, and a 2x winner of the Pittsburgh Chinese Cultural Poetry Contest. Hallie seeks to explore the intersection of emotional health in teens and educational policy, humanitarian justice, war awareness, and the terrifying, yet rewarding process of reconnecting with her Chinese culture and heritage. Her work is published/forthcoming/recognized by The Blue Marble Review, Aster Lot, Cathartic Youth Literary Magazine, Words & Whispers Mag, Paper Crane Journal, TribLive, and the Scholastic Art and Writing Alliance, among others. She is currently in the process of creating a poetry chapbook to be published in late 2023/early 2024. When she’s not writing, she can be found reading for pleasure, running competitively, talking to walls, or consuming her body weight in blueberries. Her Instagram is @ewwitshallie.
