Writing | Explore Zoë’s Writing

Black-and-white portrait of a mixed-race Chines and White femme with long hair and round glasses, seated outdoors with arms crossed.

Zoë Luh

Zoë Luh (she/they) is a poet, artist, and disability doula living on unceded Tiwa lands. They believe in poetry as a necessary tool for collective liberation and reclamation of bodily autonomy. As a writer, she feels it’s her duty and joy to use writing as a liberation practice and a tool for radical imagining.

Zoë graduated from Oberlin College with a BA in Comparative American Studies, and a minor in Studio Art. She published her first book of poetry, [and time erodes like thunder], with Assure Press in 2020, and is featured in Death Rattle/Oroboro, Blue Mesa Review, Saranac Review, In Between Spaces, a disability-centered anthology published with Stillhouse Press, and more. They were selected by Carolina Ebeid as a runner up for the 2024 American Literary Review Awards, and were a finalist for The Seventh Wave's 2025 Community Anthology Editor in Chief.

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“On Disabled Dreaming” in The Seventh Wave
“multiple-choice tongue/暴力” in American Literary Review
"CIRS (Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome) & other environmentally created disabilities" and "all i know of repetition is medicine" in Vol 10 of Death Rattle/Oroboro.
"Unit 731: 1931-1945" in Issue 20 of Saranac Review.
"death count of the ghost doctor" in Issue 50 of Blue Mesa Review.
"Questions I Ask the Night Sky" and "In My Dreams I Am A Carnivorous Plant" in Issue 9 of Pile Press (print).
"Writing Into Dystopia" a resident feature on The Seventh Wave's bulletin, Well-Crafted. This feature expands on a poem in progress.
"ode to red but not in anger" and "ode to red but not in hope" in Issue #23 of Wild Roof Journal.
"what i wish i could say at my best friend's casket" published in the Fall 2021 edition of Bridge: The Bluffington University Literary Journal.
"Recipe After Ocean Vuong" published in the Spring 2021 volume of The Vital Sparks..
"I wake with tears longer than his hair" in Everything in Between: an OSLAM chapbook.
"Access Denied" Broccoli Magazine, Issue 11
"Inadequate Facilities Unsafe, Inaccessible for Disabled Studies" The Oberlin Review, April 19, 2019
"Let's Talk Accessibility" The Oberlin Review, February 21, 2020
"Universal Pass Represents Only Humane Option" The Oberlin Review, April 4, 2020
"College Neglects Disabled Students As Mold Problem Goes Unaddressed" The Oberlin Review, July 2, 2021
[And Time Erodes Like Thunder] is Zoë's first book of poetry published with Assure Press.
"8 Steps to Survive a Pandemic" in In Between Spaces, an anthology by disabled writers published with Stillhouse Press.
Freedom Ways Interview in Literary Liberation
Review by Jessica Drake Thomas "This Week, I Read Zoë Luh: [and time erodes like thunder]. "This book is a moving portrait of a woman who has walked through the fire and come out on the other side, still whole."
[And Time Erodes Like Thunder] featured in [clmp]'s "A Reading List for Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month 2021"
[And Time Erodes Like Thunder] featured in [clmp]'s "A Reading List for Disability Pride Month 2022"
“In Between Spaces is filled with unbridled vulnerability, searing empathy, and a sense of far-reaching hope. But more than anything, this is an anthology pierced through with beauty. I was left in tears of sadness and hope."
–Tod Goldberg, New York Times bestselling author of Gangsterland, Gangster Nation, and The Low Desert: Gangster Stories
Review by the Manhattan Book Project. "If you enjoyed other popular books by disabled authors like Disability Visibility edited by Alice Wong, Sitting Pretty by Rebekah Taussig, or The Collected Schizophrenias by Esme Weijun Wang, or if you’re simply looking to diversify your TBR list, then this is the anthology for you."
"Obies Write For Themselves, On Their Own Time" by Juanita Alabi in The Oberlin Review.
“Hope Punk Poetry: writing against nihilism”, a 6-week intensive with the Poetry Society of New York, 2026
Finalist for The Seventh Wave’s 2025 Community Anthology Editor-in-Chief
Finalist for Periplus 2025
Creative Nonfiction reader for Wildscape Lit, 2025-2026
Kundiman SW Panelist at Desert Nights, Rising Stars 2025
"tongue/暴力" was chosen by Caroline Ebeid as a runner up for American Literary Review's 2025 Poetry Award
“Imagining Body: disability beyond empire” with the Poetry Society of New York, 2025
Organized “With Love, No Valentine’s Without Sudan or Palestine” Fundraiser & Poetry Reading, 2025
Narrative Shifts Digital Residency with The Seventh Wave June-July 2024
Attended Desert Nights, Rising Stars 2023, 2024
Kundiman SW Fundraiser & Reading for Palestine, 2024
Writing Associate at the Oberlin College Writing Center January 2021-December 2022
Judge and Editor at The Writer's Workout July-October 2021
Team Officer with OSLAM, Oberlin's Slam Poetry Team August 2019-June 2021
Winner of OSLAM's 2019 Grand Slam at Oberlin College