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 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.

Marianne Manzler is a Nashville-based writer, educator, and editor with roots in Ohio. As Director of Education, she hopes to create a space where language, connection, and community can thrive. She is a 2025 Minnesota State Arts Board Creative Individuals grant recipient and 2025 Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship Finalist in Literature, Prose. Her work has been recognized by Best American Essays 2022 as a notable mention and appeared in Fourth Genre, The Seventh Wave, 5280, and elsewhere, and she has received support from Storyknife Writers Retreat, Kenyon Review Writers Workshop, Sewanee Writers’ Conference, Sundress Publications, Anderson Center, and Vermont Studio Center. Within the past decade, she has served as a Fulbright scholar, AmeriCorps member, and Urban Leaders Policy Fellow. She has over ten years of experience in managing and facilitating literary arts classes and programs for youth and adults of all backgrounds. She earned a BA in English Literature from The Ohio State University and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Washington, where she was supported by the Grace Milliman Pollock Fellowship, co-founded the Black Jaw Literary Series, co-edited The Seattle Review, and won UW’s Eugene Van Buren Thesis Award. There, her passion for fostering imagination, curiosity, and artistic communities flourished. She teaches creative writing and contemporary literature at the Loft Literary Center, Carleton College, University of Minnesota's Center for the Art of Medicine, Walker Art Center, and other academic institutions, museums, and community centers. She is a poetry and prose reader at The Offing and Quarterly West and host of the podcast series, Mumu Stories. ‍

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 writer and recovering advertising copywriter. A Porch student since 2014, she practices poetry, creative nonfiction, and writing as a communal act. After a decade of sharing her ideas and energy with ad agencies, creative studios, and countless brands, she is now proudly helping to tell and expand The Porch's story as Director of Marketing. Leslie currently lives in Chattanooga, Tennessee with two wild dogs and one mostly tame husband. With zero publications to-date, she boasts encouraging rejections from the Kenyon Review Winter Poetry Workshop and McSweeney’s.