Board of Directors

Per the organization’s bylaws, the WLT is governed by a Board of Directors. The current Board of Directors consists of ten members, listed here. The Board of Directors meets on the third Wednesday of every month, excluding December, at 6:30 PM Central Time. All WLT members are welcome to attend these meetings.

For information on board service, on attending a board meeting, or to connect directly with one of our board members, feel free to contact us at wlt@writersleague.org.

Executive Committee

Amanda Wenger (she/her) is a Houston-based writer with a background in critical care nursing. She is a former Writers’ League of Texas Fellow, a FORGE NYC Fellow, and the recipient of an Elizabeth George Foundation Grant. She has attended residencies at Hedgebrook, the Vermont Studio Center, and the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity to work on her first novel, which was selected as a finalist for the Writers’ League of Texas Manuscript Contest and received an honorable mention for the Speculative Literature Foundation’s Diverse Worlds Grant. She is an alum of the Kenyon Review Writers Workshop and has designed and facilitated writing workshops for health professionals as an artist in residence for the Medical Humanities program at Texas Children’s Hospital. Current second term ends December 31, 2029.

Amanda Churchill is a writer living in Texas. Her work has been featured in Hobart Pulp, Witness, River Styx, among others. She holds a Master of Arts in Creative Writing from the University of North Texas. Amanda is a Writers’ League of Texas 2021 Fellow. She attended the 2021 Community of Writers workshop in fiction as a James D. Houston Memorial Scholarship recipient. Churchill has also attended the Tin House Summer Conference, the One Story Summer Workshop, and StoryBoard Chicago. She was a Fall 2020 mentee in AWP’s Writer to Writer program. Her debut novel, THE TURTLE HOUSE, a work inspired by the life of her grandmother, a Japanese war bride, is forthcoming in early 2024 from Harper Books. Current second term ends December 31, 2029.

Tiffo Carmichael is a long time WLT volunteer and writers community member. Getting started in fandom community organizing Tiffo has spent almost two decades doing their best to ensure that passionate people have a space to build community, find support, and get to work on what they love. Their love of stories extends into the physical as Tiffo is also a member of and President of the board for the Renegade Bookbinding Guild as well as a board member and volunteer for the Austin Book Arts Center. Current first term expires December 31, 2027.

Stephanie N. Rodriguez is a writer of fiction, poetry, memoir, and children’s literature in Austin, Texas. She is a Writers’ League of Texas 2021 Fellow, and serves as a Programming Advisor for Austin’s Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators Chapter. When she isn’t writing, she enjoys hiking and kayaking with her family, photography, and playing board games. You may also find her cleaning up local lakes and rivers, and helping wildlife in need. Her work has appeared in The Journal of Latina Critical Feminism, Blue Mesa Review, River Teeth, The Pinch, Hippocampus Magazine, River Styx, Infrarrealista Review, Castle of Horror Anthology Vol. 6: Femme Fatales, and elsewhere. For more information, visit her website snrodriguezwrites.com or follow her on Instagram: @snrodriguezwrites. Current second term ends December 31, 2029.

Board Members

Todd C. Frank has re-entered the writing world after he let life sidetrack him for almost thirty years. He has put words on pages all that time – mostly for money as a copywriter, technical writer, and general wordsmith – but they were not his words, and he was not telling his stories. When Todd turned fifty (not too long ago), he discovered an untapped passion for memoir and personal essays, both of which have reignited his love of craft. Todd now mines his memories to understand himself, and shares his work to connect with, and hopefully help, others. Proposed term expires December 31, 2029.

Tandy Gutierrez received her Bachelor’s Degree in Writing from Texas State University, served as Regional Advisor for the Southwest Region of SCBWI, and is currently working on her debut novel. She lives in San Antonio. Current first term expires December 31, 2026.

Ginger McKnight-Chavers is an author and arts/entertainment attorney. Her debut novel, In the Heart of Texas, won a USA Best Book Award for African American Fiction. An excerpt from her next novel, Oak Cliff, was a finalist in the Solstice annual literary contest. She is developing a sequel to her first novel as well as a nonfiction profile of her mother’s pioneering work in preserving Black Texas history. A native Dallasite, McKnight-Chavers is a graduate of Georgetown University and Harvard Law School. She was a Kathryn Gurfein Writing Fellow at Sarah Lawrence College and is an instructor at SLC’s Writing Institute. McKnight-Chavers serves on the Black Arts Council at MoMA and is a board member of The Roundabout Theatre Company, Black Theatre United and Summer on the Hill. She is also a NYC Ambassador to the Authors Guild. Current first term expires December 31, 2027.

Bianca Alyssa Pérez (she/her) is a Latina poet, educator, and editor born and raised in Mission, Texas – a small southern town bordering Mexico. She holds her MFA in Poetry from Texas State University, where she also teaches and coordinates the MFA in Creative Writing program. She was the 2022-2023 Clark House Writer-In-Residence in Smithville, TX. Her chapbook, Gemini Gospel, is published with Host Publications. She is also the co-host of the horror podcast, Basement Girls, with writer, Steph Grossman. Find more chisme at her website: biancaalyssaperez.com. Current first term expires December 31, 2027.

Jean Synodinos is the proud 2021 Writers’ League of Texas Bess Whitehead Scott Fellow in Creative Writing for older emerging writers. Since 2020, her stories have appeared in The Normal School, Los Angeles Review, Everyday Fiction, and Orca: A Literary Journal. A graduate of Duke University, Jean has worked as a professional actor in New York City, a performing songwriter in Austin, and a painter. She is hard at work on her first novel, Rat Girl‚ a dystopian climate fiction/ghost story set in a permanently flooded New Orleans. Rat Girl was a finalist in the 2022 WLT Manuscript Contest. Jean lives with her partner and their peckish but beautiful mutt in Austin, TX. Find her at jeansynodinos.com or on Twitter/Instagram @jeansynodinos. Current second term expires December 31, 2029.