The Longer Version

Jennifer Manske Fenske is a writer who finds inspiration in the magnolia trees, red clay, creeping kudzu, and the pink-red sunsets of the southern United States. Alongside this humid landscape, malevolent forces and fierce community can form something of a twisted vine that has captivated Jennifer since she began writing.   

Jennifer is the author of the novels, The Wide Smiles of Girls and Toss the Bride, both published by Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Press. She has received support from the South Carolina Arts Commission and the Metropolitan Arts Council. 

Recent work has been published in Atlanta Review, Anti-Heroin Chic, Ice Floe Press and Emrys Journal. Jennifer’s essays have been published in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Arizona Republic, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel and the Lutheran.

Jennifer is a proud theatre graduate of the Fine Arts Center in Greenville, S.C. At Clemson University, she landed in a fiction-writing class with Mark Steadman and pivoted from dreams of an acting career to becoming an author. After graduating with an English degree, Jennifer studied creative writing at Stony Brook University with Richard Elman, earning an M.A.

Jennifer and her family moved back to Greenville, S.C., after a glorious 12-year Colorado residency. She is married toJonathan Fenske, a children’s book author and illustrator. They are parents to three daughters, and can often be found with them playing guitar, at the soccer field, in the bouldering gym, or hiking in a nearby state park (Jones Gap is a favorite).