C L A S S E S & E V E N T S

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Upcoming Classes • Critique Groups • The Dinner Party

2024 Catholic Literary Arts Events

Joseph Pearce
*Literature: What Every Catholic Should Know*

**This is a free event. No registration required.**
Tuesday, September 24, 2024, seven p.m. CST
Cullen Hall, University of St. Thomas
3800 Montrose Blvd.

**Fall 2024 Virtual Happy Hours**

**September 13 and November 8, 2024, seven p.m. CST**
**Follow this link to register for the September 13, 2024 Happy hour.**
**Follow this link to register for the November 8, 2024 Happy hour.**

Would you enjoy meeting CLA members and friends from around the U.S, and beyond?

Would you enjoy hearing about more publication opportunities from a community of Writers of Faith?

Join us for a social hour of introductions and camaraderie at one of CLA’s Fall Happy Hours. Conducted via Zoom and moderated by Maura Harrison, the sessions will invite participants to report on recent publications, upcoming calls for entries, and opportunities for collaboration and/or critique. There’s vibrant discussion on topics ranging from spiritual refreshment to noteworthy upcoming events. To get everyone talking, each Happy Hour will have a general topic for discussion. Then we’ll see where the topics lead us.

Our moderator, Maura H. Harrison is a writer and artist from Fredericksburg, VA. Her written and visual works have appeared or are forthcoming in Dappled Things, Ekstasis Magazine, The St. Austin Review, Solum Journal, Windhover, Trampoline: A Journal of Poetry, Amethyst Magazine, Heart of Flesh Literary Journal, and others. She has received recognition in poetry competitions sponsored by Catholic Literary Arts (CLA) and the Society of Classical Poets, receiving first place recognition for her poem in CLA's 2023 Marian Advent Prayer Contest, and second place recognition for her poem in the 2024 Assumption Poetry Contest.

Follow this link to register for the September 13, 2024 Happy hour.

Follow this link to register for the November 8, 2024 Happy hour.

**Great Works of the Catholic Revival**

***Sunday, September 22, 2024, two p.m. CST***
**Follow this link to register as a CLA guest.**

Guests of all ages are welcome to register to join us at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, September 22, 2024 in the Banquet Hall at Cathedral High School, which is located at 7726 Westview Dr, Houston, TX 77055.

Catholic Literary Arts welcomes Joseph Pearce to take us on a tour of the Golden Age of Catholic literature.

“The legacy of great Catholic literature that England had bestowed upon civilization might have seemed to have died out by the end of the eighteenth century, but the apparent death of Catholicism was merely the prelude for a spectacular resurrection,” writes Joseph Pearce. (“Great Works of the Catholic Revival.” St. Austin Review, Nov. 2015.)

A native of England, Pearce is Director of Book Publishing at the Augustine Institute, editor of the St. Austin Review, series editor of the Ignatius Critical Editions, senior instructor with Homeschool Connections, and senior contributor at the Imaginative Conservative. He has hosted two 13-part television series about Shakespeare on EWTN, and has also written and presented documentaries on EWTN on the Catholicism of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.

Event Partners

**Meet-the-Editor Panel: Children’s Edition**

***Wednesday, March 6, 2024, seven p.m. CST***

Join moderator, Lindsay Schlegel, in visiting with three editors in Catholic children’s literature.

Catholic Literary Arts presents an evening with editors representing three of the leading publishers of Catholic children’s books. Each editor will speak about her philosophy of writing for kids, as well as what she’s looking for in a submission. Our hope in connecting writers with editors is that over time, publishers can find new talent for their lists and our faithful writers will find a home for their work. There will be a Q&A portion of the event, so bring your questions!

The Editors

Kate Camden is the acquisitions editor for OSV Kids books and an editor for the OSV Kids magazine. She is a graduate of the Columbia Publishing Course at Oxford and has worked in Catholic publishing and media since 2011.

Haley Stewart is an award-winning writer and the Editor of Word on Fire Spark, a new imprint for young readers. She is the author of The Grace of Enough, Jane Austen's Genius Guide to Life, and The Sister Seraphina Mysteries and the host of Word on Fire's Spark the Imagination Podcast.

Sister Maria Grace Dateno, a Daughter of St. Paul, is a children’s book editor and author for Pauline Books & Media. She has an MA in theology from The Catholic University of America and has served in several of the Pauline Books & Media Centers around the country. She is the author of the six-book Gospel Time Trekkers series (easy-reader Biblical time travel stories), as well as several catechetical and devotional works for kids and adults, including The Mass Explained for Kids.

The Moderator

Lindsay Schlegel has worked in children’s book publishing for nearly twenty years, serving in various roles at Borders Books and Music, Candlewick Press, the Charlotte Sheedy Literary Agency, Abrams Books for Young Readers/Amulet Books, and the Children's Department at Simon and Schuster, before moving to freelance work. Her editorial clients have included HarperCollins, and Our Sunday Visitor, among others. She has written for Word on Fire, America, CatholicMom.com, Verily, The Windhover Journal, and more. She is the co-author of two books for adults. Her first picture book, with a working title God's Glorious Garden, is forthcoming in Spring 2025.

**Spring 2024 Virtual Happy Hours**

***February 23 and April 26, 2024, seven p.m. CST***

Do you wish you were more involved with a community of Writers of Faith?

Join us for a social hour of introductions and camaraderie at one of CLA’s Spring Happy Hours. Conducted via Zoom and moderated by Maura Harrison, the sessions will invite participants to report on recent publications, upcoming calls for entries, and opportunities for collaboration and/or critique. To get everyone talking, each Happy Hour will have a general topic for discussion. Then we’ll see where the topics lead us.

Maura H. Harrison is a writer and artist from Fredericksburg, VA. Her written and visual works have appeared or are forthcoming in Dappled Things, Ekstasis Magazine, The St. Austin Review, Solum Journal, Windhover, Trampoline: A Journal of Poetry, Amethyst Magazine, Heart of Flesh Literary Journal, and others. She has received recognition in poetry competitions sponsored by Catholic Literary Arts (CLA) and the Society of Classical Poets, most recently receiving first place recognition for her poem, "Mary, Please Come and Intervene," in CLA's 2023 Marian Advent Prayer Contest.