LEADERSHIP & TEAM

Susannah is a fiction writer, freelance writer, teacher, editor, and native Nashvillian, with roots planted firmly on the East side since 2009. She has been awarded the Tennessee Arts Commission’s Individual Artist Fellowship in Fiction and the Tennessee Williams Scholarship to the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, as well as residencies at the Ragdale Foundation, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and the Hambidge Center for Creative Arts and Sciences. Susannah is a contributing writer for Chapter 16, Humanities Tennessee’s site devoted to literary culture, and a columnist for BookPage, where she occasionally has too much fun writing about lifestyle books. Her essays and fiction have appeared in publications such as The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2018, Guernica, Catapult, Literary Hub, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, Longreads, StorySouth, The Oxford American, and others, and her first novel, This Will Go Down on Your Permanent Record, was published by Featherproof Books. She’s currently seeking representation for a second novel, aka developing an armadillo hide and the patience of Job.

Susannah holds an MFA in Writing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, in whose undergraduate program she taught writing classes for years before heading back down South. She has also taught writing at Watkins College of Art, Design & Film, and in several youth and community settings. She will happily split a basket of fries with you.

Katie McDougall, CO-FOUNDER & CO-DIRECTOR, is a native Nashvillian, a fiction writer, and a teacher. She earned a BA at Colorado College and her MFA in Fiction Writing at Colorado State University. Her short stories and essays have appeared in Litmosphere, Chaper16, Barcelona Review , and Storyglossia . She was a runner-up for the Kentucky Women’s Writers; Betty Gabehart Prize in 2019 and a finalist in the 2023 Lit/South Awards. Katie has over twenty years of experience as a teacher and mentor of literature and writing, and has deep experience coordinating writing retreats. After leaving the traditional classroom, she worked as the Master Teacher in Residence at The Island School in the Bahamas. In 2023, she piloted and spearheaded The Porch’s Writing for Good program. When not at her desk, she can be found trail-running with her Golden Retriever, Homer, hammocking, or nibbling on Clif Bars, ideally somewhere with a view.

Halley Corapi is a writer and producer currently based in Nashville, Tennessee. An avid lover of literature and film, she has spent every phase of life involved in content creation—from childhood playwriting, to UT-Chattanooga’s creating writing program, to the world of politics and social advocacy. From 2018 to 2020, she produced over 500 ads and contributed her voice acting skills to multiple radio, television, and digital projects. Her essays on mental health advocacy have been featured by Renewed, a Nashville non-profit for the prevention of eating disorders, for whom she has also appeared on local television to talk about resources and recovery. In addition to writing, she loves drawing (at which she is decent), singing (at which she is not), and her dog Szymborska (the least eloquent member of the family but, thankfully, cute enough to make up for it).

‍J. Joseph Kane is a Michigan native who now calls Nashville home. He has an MA in poetry from Central Michigan, where he taught English composition and served as editor-in-chief of Temenos literary journal. His poems and stories have found many homes, including RHINO, Elimae, theEEEL, Clapboard House, The Splinter Generation, Cricket Online Review, Psychic Meatloaf, Right Hand Pointing, and the NPR podcast Versify. From a family of educators, helping young people express themselves is a cause close to Joe’s heart. Before moving to Nashville, he taught creative writing in Detroit public schools through the InsideOut Literary Arts Project. Since joining the Porch family in 2015, he has helped the Porch’s youth programs become regular features at schools, libraries, after school programs, and arts spaces across Metro-Nashville. He loves the way that student writing keeps surprising him every day.

Leslie Donnenwirth (she/hers) is a native Tennessean, writer, and recovering advertising copywriter. A fan and student of The Porch since 2014, she has continued to nurture a love of poetry, creative nonfiction, and writing as a communal act—all inspired by that first class. After spending the past decade lending her ideas and energy to ad agencies, creative studios, and hundreds of brands, big and small, she’s now proudly helping shout The Porch's story from the rooftops as part-time marketing manager. Leslie currently lives in Chattanooga, Tennessee with two wild dogs and one (mostly tame) husband. Much to all of their chagrin she’s never not talking about what’s for dinner, or she's likely bewitched by some glowing screen while making annoying click-clack sounds. She also just keeps buying more books, despite the precarious stacks surrounding them all. Yes, she’d love to read your poem. Please send it to her along with your favorite so-easy-so-good recipe: leslie@porchtn.org

Nina Adel [she, her] is a writer, artist, musician, and educator originally from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Nina studied music, composition, and vocal performance at Berklee College of Music and holds an MA in English and Creative Writing from Belmont University and MFA in Creative Writing from Hamline University. Her lyric essay Refugere  won the 2020 Bellevue LiteraryReview’s Buckvar Prize for Nonfiction. Nina was the recipient of a 2023 Yaddo Artist Residency. She has been published most recently in SharkReef; Porter House Review; Maryland Literary Review; Breath and Shadow; Flash FictionMagazine, and Tomahawk Creek, among others. She has received recognition in such diverse corners of the arts world as GlimmerTrain, The Kerrville Music Festival, and Wolf Trap and is currently adapting the manuscript of her fictionalized hybrid memoir Leila’s List into a performance piece of the same name. Nina speaks several languages, is a published translator andhas written, co-produced, recorded and toured behind three albums of original music. She is an English professor, craftsperson/owner of Blue Salamander Arts andLetters, and editor of A Lighthouse, an anthology of immigrant voices andPorch publication. She lives in Nashville alongside her children and two boisterous hounds. Read more of Nina’s work at ninaadel.com. Social Media: @writethinkspeak.