About Corpus Christi Writers' Studio
We believe that everyone has a unique story to tell. Writing, like any other art form,
requires practice and dedication to craft. Our mission is to provide quality, creative writing instruction
to the Coastal Bend area and to build a vibrant, inclusive community of writers.
About Our Instructors
Sarah K. Lenz
Sarah K. Lenz founded Writers' Studio in July 2019. Her nonfiction has appeared in Crazyhorse, Colorado Review, The Fourth River, Entropy, and elsewhere. Three of her essays have been named Notable in Best American Essays, and she received the New Letters Readers’ award in nonfiction. She holds an MFA in creative nonfiction from Georgia College, an MA in literature from Boise State University, and a BFA in fiction writing from the University of Nebraska, Omaha. She's the prose editor of The Switchgrass Review. She teaches composition, creative writing, and literature at Del Mar College in Corpus Christi, Texas.
Michael Quintana
Michael Quintana received his MFA in creative writing from San Jose State University. He’s the founder of Script Journey, a script and story consultation service that helps writers develop their written projects. His fiction has appeared in The Windward Review and his poetry has appeared in Strike Magazine. He’s won various awards for screenwriting, including the CSU Media Arts Festival’s Rosebud Award. In 2015, his award-winning short script “The Blind Date” was turned into a short film. Currently, he serves as a distinguished reader for the Cinequest Film Festival and is a pop-culture writer for Zimbio. You can learn more about Script Journey, by visiting: www.scriptjourney.com
Alan Berecka
Alan Berecka earns his keep as a librarian at Del Mar College. He has authored four collections of poetry, the latest of which, The Hamlet of Stittville, is a collaboration with cartoonist John Klossner. In 2017 Berecka was named the first Poet Laureate of Corpus Christi.
Sara Kaplan
Sara Kaplan received her MFA in poetry from the University of Idaho, and she also holds degrees from Miami University and Sweet Briar College. Her chapbooks include Moon Talk and Touring West of the Mississippi. Published interviews with notable poets are on Poetry Daily and in Conversations with Natasha Trethewey. Her poems appear in the following journals, and several poems were nominated for The Pushcart Prize: The Antioch Review, Harpur Palate, LIT 9, The Cincinnati Review, Talking River Review, The Meadow, InLand, Ruminate, The New Vilna Review, decomP magazine, Failbetter, Splash of Red, MO: Writings from the River, & Gulf Islands Review. As an Associate Professor of English at Del Mar College, she specializes in teaching Poetry and British Literature.
Robin Carstensen
Robin Carstensen is co-founding senior editor of the Switchgrass Review: a Journal of Health and Transformation. Her poetry chapbook In the Temple of Shining Mercy received the annual first-place award by Iron Horse Literary Press in 2016. She has earned annual first-place awards with So to Speak: a Literary Journal of Language, Feminism, and Art and Many Mountains Moving: a Journal of Diverse and Contemporary Poetry. Poems are also published in BorderSenses, Southern Humanities Review, Voices de La Luna, Demeter Press’s anthology, Borderlands and Crossroads: Writing the Motherland, Fiolet and Wing: An Anthology of Domestic Fabulist Poetry, and many more. She directs the creative writing program at Texas A&M University-CC, where she also serves as senior editor for The Windward Review, a Literary Journal of the South Texas Coastal Bend.
Joshua Bridgwater Hamilton
Joshua Bridgwater Hamilton is a Louisville, KY native who migrated to Corpus Christi with his family. He has traveled and lived in several places, including Spain, Appalachia, Panamá, Peru, the Philippines, and the Colorado River. He earned his Bachelor's Degree in English and Humanities and his Master's Degree in Spanish from the University of Louisville, and in 2013 he completed his doctorate in Spanish (with a minor in American Literature) with Indiana University. Joshua’s field of research focuses on Visual Poetry from the late Franco dictatorship (1960s - 1970s). He has worked as a bookseller and has taught at the university level for many years. Joshua's first chapbook, Slow Wind, was published with Finishing Line Press, and his second, Rain Minnows, is forthcoming with Gnashing Teeth Publishing. His poetry appears in such journals as Windward Review, Tiny Seed Journal, Driftwood, Voices de la Luna, and Noble/Gas Qtrly.
Kent Lenz
Kent Lenz has lived all over the country, including Virginia, Nebraska, Colorado, California, Idaho, Ohio, and Georgia. During his many meanderings, he stayed put long enough to earn his MFA in Fiction from the University of Nebraska’s Low Residency Writing Program and his Ph.D. in Rhetoric and Composition from Bowling Green State University. Currently, he has found a home in Texas and teaches English Composition and Literature courses at Del Mar College. Some of Kent’s writing can be found at Drunk Monkeys and in The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Alyson Greene
Alyson Greene earned her BA in Politics and MA in Education from the University of California at Santa Cruz. She taught English in public schools for seven years, and now spends time wrangling her two small children and writing for young adults. Her short stories for children have appeared in Highlights High Five Magazine. After growing up in southern California, she's continued her love affair with flip-flops and now lives in Corpus Christi, TX with her family.
Luri Owen
Luri Owen lives in Albuquerque, NM, and teaches English at Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute, a national Native American community college. She began writing poetry in high school and has published in regional anthologies, most recently the Fixed and Free Poetry Anthology 2018. She has also published numerous articles and book reviews.
AE Stueve
AE Stueve is the author of the sci-fi/horror novel Former and The ABCs of Dinkology graphic novel series. From 2006 to 2010, he was the writer of Tidalwave Production’s ongoing comic book series The Legend of Isis. His other work can be found in various anthologies, collections, and comics online and in print. He teaches at Bellevue West High and the University of Nebraska at Omaha. For more information check out his website at aestueve.com.
Laurence Musgrove
Professor of English at Angelo State University, Laurence Musgrove teaches courses in composition, literature, and creative writing. His books include Local Bird – a poetry collection, One Kind of Recording – a volume of aphorisms, and The Bluebonnet Sutras – Buddhist dialogues in verse. Laurence is editor and publisher of Texas Poetry Assignment.