Courtney O'Banion Smith

Courtney O'Banion Smith has a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Texas at Austin, and a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing, Poetry from Texas State University-San Marcos. Currently, she is pursuing a Master of Arts in Theopoetics and Writing at Bethany Theological Seminary. She has worked on the board of several literary journals and poetry organizations including the Houston Poetry & Arts Festival. A Pushcart Prize nominee, her work has appeared online and in print in various publications including Southwestern American Literature; Poetic Asides, a Writer’s Digest poetry blog; The Ekphrastic Review, Relief, and Barren Magazine.  In addition to spoken word performances and public readings of her work, she has presented on topics ranging from visual literacy and race, multi-modal delivery of literature in the classroom, persona poetry, and creativity and God. Her collection, In Fidelity, is the 2022 winner of the Catherine Case Lubbe Manuscript Award presented by the Poetry Society of Texas. She resides in Houston where she teaches writing, and she and her partner care for their two sons and one neurotic dog.