The presentation will be followed by a book-signing hosted by Houson’s jewel of a bookstore, Murder by the Book. 

November 18, 2009, 7:00 p.m. at University of Houston-Downtown, Robertson Auditorium. Free and open to the public.

Panelists will include the award-winning authors Rolando Hinojosa-Smith, Lucha Corpi, and Sergio Troncoso. 

All authors will sign copies of the recently publishing HIT LIST: THE BEST OF LATINO MYSTERY after the panel in the book-signing tent.

Both authors will discuss the intersections of writing crime fiction with their successful careers as poets.  Central Public Library, 500 McKinney Avenue, Houston, TX 77002. 

For information call 832-393-1652.  Free and open to the public.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009 from 9:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. in the downtown library coffee shop located at 500 McKinney, lower level.  Telephone: 832-393-1313.  Free and open to the public.

 Editor, Sarah Cortez and Arte Público Press, the world’s largest publisher of U.S. Hispanic voices, will bring together today’s most exciting Latino/a fiction writers in an anthology of original mystery fiction for the YA reader.  This volume, tentatively entitled “You Don’t Have A Clue,” will feature all types of mystery short stories.  There will be stories guaranteed to pull in the reluctant reader and stories to delight the high school student gearing up for admissions tests.  A Teacher’s Guide will facilitate classroom use by teachers and library media specialists.

 Join us in creating the first anthology of edgy, fast-paced mystery fiction written by Latino/a authors for high school students. 

 Nuts and Bolts

Word Count:     Up to 6,000

Format:     Standard (double-spaced, one-inch margins, numbered pages)

Unpublished:     This includes both print and online

Simultaneous Submission:      No

Compensation:     Yes

Language:     English

Deadline:     March 31, 2010

Electronic Submission:     No

Bio:     One paragraph which includes your publishing history and your ethnic heritage

Mail a hard copy of your submission to:

 Please include the following info with your submission:  mailing address, email address, two contact phone numbers.

 Note:  your submission will not be returned unless an SASE with sufficient postage is provided.  Unreturned copies will be shredded and recycled.  You will be notified by email if your submission is accepted or rejected.

If you have any questions, please send an email to cortez.sarah@gmail.com.

I hope you’ll join me in creating a unique volume of excellent fiction for our young people!

Sarah Cortez is the award-winning writer and editor of Windows into My World: Latino Youth Write Their Lives (Arte Público Press, 2007), Hit List: The Best of Latino Mystery (Arte Público Press, 2009), and Indian Country Noir (Akashic Books, forthcoming).  Her debut volume of poetry, How to Undress A Cop (Arte Público Press, 2000) contains the poems winning her the PEN Texas Literary Award in Poetry.  She lives and works in Houston, Texas as a full-time editor, writer, and teacher of creative writing.

Sarah Cortez, along with noted authors Sergio Troncoso, Carlos Hernandez, Richie Narvaez, and Liz Martinez will be reading selections from from HIT LIST: THE BEST OF LATINO MYSTERY.

Buy Sarah’s books here…

Reception and Opening for the 8th Session of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.
Sarah Cortez will read one of her poems for the attendees.  A poem which was composed for and selected by the United Nations in honor of this conference.

 This volume documents students from the University of Houston reacting to the urban landscape of Houston under the meticulous eye of their poetry teacher, Sarah Cortez.

Comments

“…a new batch of Houston writers explore life in poems that are gritty, throbbing, stubbornly triumphant creations that come from living in the nation’s fourth largest city.” 

Collegium: The Magazine of the University of Houston, Spring 2002. 

Product Details

• ISBN:
• ISBN-
• Format: Paperback
• Publisher:
• Pub. Date:
• Sales Rank:

This collection of essays written by young men & women from various Latino backgrounds reflects the diversity of growing up Latino in the USA. Illuminating memoirs shine a light into the lives of young Hispanic adults for ages 16 and up.

Youth & Young Adult literature

Reviewed by: Amie Rose Rotruck

Sarah Cortez’s class “Memoir and Mexican American Identity” proved to Cortez that college undergraduates, while young, still could write compelling memoirs. Now she has collected some of the most compelling memoirs written by Latino Americans into this book.

The essays are written by many different backgrounds (Mexican, Puerto Rican, and Dominican to name just a few), but the common thread running through the book is the honest look at the writers’ lives as well as their undeniable talent.

The memoirs touch upon everything from death to going away to college (sometimes against parent’s wishes) to events as simple as recalling a swimming lesson.

Occasionally, the authors switch to Spanish or Spanglish, but the meaning is clear even to those who can only read English. An excellent collection of memoirs written by those who have not necessarily lived many years, but still have important things to say.

Product Details

• ISBN: 1558854827
• ISBN-13: 9781558854826
• Format: Paperback, 210pp
• Publisher: Arte Publico Press
• Pub. Date: March 2007
• Edition Description: Bilingual
• Sales Rank: 363,615
• Age Range: 12 and up

Logistics of Writing:  How to gear up and rev up you writing productivity. A system to layer on top of your present way of writing. A practical series of step that will show you how to switch into a proactive approach of generating work.

Presenter:   Sarah Cortez  

Winner of the 1999 PEN Texas Literary award in poetry and other juried designations, Ms. Cortez is much in demand as a creative writing teacher. One of her poems was chosen for the nationwide Poetry in Motion program and many others have been anthologized. One of her poems was designated as an “Honorable Mention” in the 2007 Texas Poetry Calendar (Dos Gatos Press, Austin) by noted poet Kathleen Peirce.

Ms. Cortez has edited “Urban-Speak: Poetry of the City” (University of Houston, CMAS, 2001) and “Windows into My World: Latino Youth Write Their Lives” (Arte Público, 2007), an anthology of short memoir written by young men and women reflecting the diversity of growing up Latino in the U.S. This anthology was recently awarded the 2008 Skipping Stones Honor Award for being “an exceptional book promoting understanding of diverse cultures.”

Ms. Cortez has been a police officer since 1993. Currently, Ms. Cortez is co-editing with Liz Martinez two fiction anthologies: one for Arte Público Press of Latino mystery writers, and the second for Akashic Press (Brooklyn) on Indian Country Noir, and a collection of non-fiction writing by law enforcement (active or retired).

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