The Porch's AAPI meetups are designed for writers who identify as Asian American Pacific Islanders (AAPI). This group has been active since October 2022, and we've had successful public showcases in May 2023 and May 2024. These meetups allow new and familiar AAPI writers to get to know each other, while coming away with some focused writing and fruitful discussions. Starting in July 2026, the Porch will start to charge a $5 fee for non-members (and free for members) to help sustain this program, continue compensating instructors, and keep offering low-cost, high-quality programming.
Join upcoming AAPI meetups on the third Sunday of the month from 3-4:30 PM at the Porch House:
Facilitators
Cortney Warner. Cortney was born in South Korea, raised in Ohio, and calls Tennessee home. She released her self-produced, debut special, Pointy Boys, in 2022 under Bedfire Label. Cortney travels all over the country performing stand up and has opened for artists and comedians like Dessa, Charlene Kaye, and Dusty Slay. Cortney runs a quarterly comedy show at Third Man Records and monthly shows at Babo and The Madnest. She also has satire published on points in case, humor darling, White Limozeen, and Flexx Mag. Cortney has studied at comedy institutions such as The Second City, UCB, and Catapult, all within comedy writing, satire, and sketch. She has studied directly under SNL/Key & Peele writer Rich Talarico as well. She has a BA in Organizational Communication from Kent State, where she graduated early and with high honors. She also hates onions and that’s the only thing she and Shrek don’t have in common.
Steve Haruch is an award-winning writer, editor and producer. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, Catapult and NPR’s Code Switch, among other outlets. He was the founding senior producer of the daily show This Is Nashville, and his audio stories have aired on public radio’s Here and Now and elsewhere. Read and listen to more of his work here. Steve is editor of the books Greetings From New Nashville: How a Sleepy Southern Town Became “It” City and People Only Die of Love in Movies: Film Writing by Jim Ridley (Vanderbilt University Press). He is also an independent film producer and consultant.
Marianne Manzler is a Filipino-American writer, editor, and educator with Ohio roots. Her work has been honored by Best American Essays 2022 and featured in Fourth Genre, The Seventh Wave, and elsewhere. A 2025 Minnesota State Arts Board Grant recipient, her work has received support from Storyknife Writers Residency, Kenyon Review Writers Workshop, Sewanee Writers’ Conference, Anderson Center, Sundress Publications, and Vermont Studio Center. She holds a BA in English from The Ohio State University and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Washington. She has taught at The Loft Literary Center, Carleton College, UMN’s Center for the Art of Medicine, 826MSP, and more. She is the Director of Education at The Porch Writers’ Collective.
