Sarah Cortez

Sarah Cortez, writer and editor, has taught creative writing in first-grade classrooms, juvenile detention centers, book festivals, police departments, universities, high schools, and corporate boardrooms. She is a member of the Texas Institute of Letters and Fellow of the Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture. Her poems, essays, book reviews, and short stories are anthologized and published in journals, such as Presence: A Journal of Catholic Poetry and New Verse Review. Recently anthologized in The Saint Mary’s Book of Christian Verse, and in Contemporary Catholic Poetry, she is a contributing editor for Catholic Arts Today, and arts columnist for St. Austin Review. She writes for National Catholic Register and Texas Catholic Herald. With decades of work as a developmental editor for publishers, she is the founder and president of Catholic Literary Arts, a national community of faith-filled educators and writers
dedicated to furthering creative writing skills. She and Lesley Clinton are the series editors of The Living Fire: Contemporary Catholic Writers for the Classroom (Wiseblood Books, 2025).

Upcoming Programs by Sarah Cortez

Preparing to Walk with Jesus: Writing and Reflecting on Holy Week

March 22 - 27, 2026

This year let’s prayerfully approach Holy Week by writing key moments from our own lives and the lives of those we’ve known that echo the sacrificial love of Jesus Christ. We’ll use key Scriptural passages to reflect on God’s divine wisdom and infinite love during the ups and downs of our own experiences. The Stations […]

Preparing for Resurrection Joy: Writing and Reflecting on Easter

March 28, 2026

Join master teacher Sarah Cortez for this one-day writing workshop to prepare for Christ’s glorious Resurrection. The anticipated joys to come at Easter will anchor our discussion and writing as we immerse ourselves in Scripture, then anchor ourselves in the writings of the saints and poets through the centuries. These texts will give us a […]

A Day of Prayer and Writing Focused on the Sacred Heart of Jesus

October 10, 2026

Together we will reflect on the promises made to St. Margaret Mary Alcoque as our day’s basis for prayer, spiritual journaling, and reflection. We’ll anchor our time with morning Mass, then later we’ll have time to pray in the chapel. Walking reflection will help us awaken our appreciation for God’s gift of creation and its […]

Honoring Your Spiritual Legacy: The Letters You’d Like to Write

October 11 - 16, 2026

Inside each person resides a wealth of spiritual and emotional qualities that are the gifts of God’s grace and life experience. We’ll use the time-honored practice of letter-writing to pen letters remembering and thanking those people whose influence has abundantly blessed us—family members, friends, mentors, strangers, and saints. The words from our hearts will flow […]