Sarah Kotchian is a writer and artist who completed a 500-mile solo pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago in Spain. Camino, her book of poetry and photographs about that pilgrimage, received the New Mexico and Arizona Book Award and the Seven Sisters Book Award. A former environmental health agency leader, she is trained as a lay pastor and spiritual director, and facilitates workshops and contemplative retreats incorporating creative writing and art. An experienced long-distance hiker, she has walked the West Highland Way in Scotland, the Kerry Way in Ireland, the Catalan Pyrenees in Spain, the Coast to Coast walk and portions of the South West Coast Path, the Pembrokeshire Coast Path, and the North Downs Way in England and Wales, as well as hiking trails throughout the United States. She holds a bachelor's degree in American Literature, master's degrees in Education and in Public Health, and a PhD in American Studies. She and her husband live in New Mexico at the foot of the Sandia Mountains.