Meet Our Staff

A Westport native, Amanda Parrish Morgan returned to Connecticut after time in Chicago, Cape Town, Philadelphia and Washington DC. She has worked as a grant writer, high school English teacher, college professor, and Westport Writers Workshop instructor. Her first book, Stroller, was published in 2022 and her shorter work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, Wired, The Washington Post, The American Scholar, LitHub, and elsewhere. Amanda lives in Fairfield with her husband and two children where she can often be found out on a long run, renovating her 100-year-old house, or sampling the area’s best ice cream.

Liz is a writer and editor who received her M.F.A. in Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts (2008) and M.A. in English Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. Liz began her professional career in publishing, both at a literary agency and as an Editorial Assistant at Random House before teaching middle and high school English at Poly Prep Country Day School in Brooklyn. Her work has appeared in Quality Women’s Fiction, Town & Country, Literary Mama, Brain Child, Mothers Always Write, The Rumpus, and Big Fiction Little Truths among other places. Liz teaches Introductory & Intermediate Fiction, Flash Fiction, and Creative Writing. She co-coordinates our Pitch & Publish Conference with Julie Sarkissian.

Julianne Mulvey grew up in Alaska, California and Texas. After getting her business degree, she made her way to Manhattan to work as an investment banker specializing in M&A and Project Finance before refocusing on her passions. In addition to her work at Westport Writers’ Workshop, Julianne is also an editor for a large education consulting company and teaches at SoulCycle. Julianne lives in Connecticut with her husband, three children, two dogs, and two cats. She appreciates sarcasm and beautiful sentences.

Keri grew up in Fairfield, CT. She received a B.S. in accounting from The Carroll School of Management at Boston College. Her professional career began at Arthur Andersen LLP, Boston where she earned her CPA. In 1999, she became the finance manager for Clear Channel Theatrical, one of New York City’s largest Broadway production companies with a focus on budgetary wellness. Keri was certified as a behavioral money coach (CMC) in 2014 and started her own practice. She continues to assist small businesses and individuals in behavioral and practical solutions for financial success. She lives in Fairfield with her four kids and golden retriever Daisy.

Alana Sanko is an award-winning creator, writer and producer. For over two decades she has written and developed for comedy, drama and animated series, as well as TV movie and network and cable pilots across multiple platforms. Her Nickelodeon series, Just for Kicks, which she created and developed with Executive Producer Whoopi Goldberg, won her a WGA Award, and the animated MTV series Spy Groove, that she was Head Writer on, received an Annie Nomination. Credits include the original ABC comedy pilot, See Jayne Run, the Disney Channel Original Movie Get a Clue, and the acclaimed CBS television series Murphy Brown, starring Candace Bergen, which was named on the WGA’s list of 101 Best TV Series. Alana has also written for numerous children’s series and is currently producing an independent feature film. She’s a proud member of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, BMI, SACD, New York Women in Film & Television and the Writers Guild of America.

Julie Sarkissian is the author of Dear Lucy, published by Simon and Schuster and nominated for the Dylan Thomas Prize. Her essays, short fiction and book reviews have appeared in The New York Times, Tin House, The Huffington Post, The New York Observer, Flavorwire, and Westport Magazine, among others. Born and raised in Southern California, she has a BA in English from Princeton, where she won the Leyone Francis Page award for her thesis, and an MFA from The New School. She is a writing coach, manuscript editor, and writing instructor across all genres at the Westport Writers’ Workshop. Through their outreach program, she has run workshops for nonprofits such as temporary housing shelters, English language schools, and for differently-abled adults. She is Co-coordinator with Liz Matthews of the Westport Writers’ Workshop Pitch & Publish Conference.