On January 7 of this year, 12th Grader Sanaa Omondi became a published author. The book, titled “Who I Am & Who I Was,” is comprised of 52 poems that have been written from 2018 to 2023, but Sanaa has been writing poetry since 2016.

Sanaa explained that she uses poems as a way to express herself and talk about what she was going through.

“I think that a little part of me had always wanted them to be published,” Sanaa said.

Sanaa has ever since been putting the signature with the date the poems were written on each. Sanaa was able to publish her poems through Amazon’s self-publisher system. All she had to do was to write her manuscript and make the cover art. Many of Sanaa’s poems were based on how she felt that day.

“I know that there is a poem about feeling hopeless,” Sanaa says, “so that day I was definitely feeling hopeless.”

Sanaa believes that this book is good for teenage girls. When asked who she believes the targeted audience should be for the book, Sanaa says “Definitely teenage girls and definitely people with mental health, and teenagers in general.

The poems are set in an order where they have become more uplifting the further someone reads. One of the poems talks about love and an attempt to find love. The poem titled “Love” has a segment that says, “Love Where are you? They beg, they pled We need you love Love You are love The love you seek is within Once you love yourself Love comes.” The book has several poems that talk about other struggles with titles such as When, My time, Better Off Alone, Thank You, and many more. Later in the poem collection, Sanaa shares a poem named “Could.” This poem gives a feeling of hope. One of the excerpts from the poem says “The only limit that is set is in my head.”

At this time Sanaa records herself reading some of her poems from the book and others she has written on TicTok. Sanaa intends to release another book with earlier poems and poem styles that differ from her first book. While she works on her second book, she is also working on an online store, selling merchandise that pairs with the book. It can be reached at who-i-am-who-i-was.myshopify.com.