Author, Editor, and Coach
Susanna Daniel’s first novel, Stiltsville, was awarded the PEN/Bingham prize for best debut fiction, and her second novel, Sea Creatures, was a Target Book Club pick. In 2013, Susanna co-founded, with author Michelle Wildgen, the Madison Writers’ Studio. She’s a graduate of Columbia University and the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and has won fellowships from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, the UW Institute for Creative Writing, UCross, and MacDowell. Her stories and essays have appeared in the Sewanee Review, Newsweek, Slate, One Story, Wisconsin People & Ideas, Significant Objects, Madison Magazine, Epoch, and elsewhere.
Susanna lives in Madison, Wisconsin, with her two teens and beloved mutt.
“Susanna is a consistently encouraging, thoughtful and wise writing mentor. But more than that — Susanna is a true partner on the journey, helping writers learn, grow, take chances, cultivate their own voice and find joy throughout the messy path from start to finish. I can’t recommend Susanna and her approach enough.”
Amy: A Biography of Amy Gannon
"Richly resourced, gutsy, and heartbreakingly intimate.” — Maggie Ginsberg, author of Still True
“Susanna was instrumental in shaping my manuscript, guiding me to tighten while pushing me to dive deeper and add crucial details. Thanks to her support, I was able to consistently produce pages that were far stronger than anything I could have accomplished on my own.”
Learning to Camp
“A year after my marriage ended, my dear friend Rachel flew across the country to check on me. I was living in a fragmented state . . .”
Stiltsville: A Novel
Winner of the PEN/Bingham Prize. “A wise portrait of a marriage. . . . Daniel writes beautifully of matters of the heart." — Jennifer Haigh, author of The Condition
“Susanna’s feedback was clear, specific, and actionable. I left our meeting excited to dive back in with a clear idea of where to start. To add, I walked away with the edited manuscript, feedback letter, and my notes from our meeting - I have so much to draw on for future work, which is exciting. ”
Sharks and Seals
“In the game of water polo, the goalie must be strong enough to rise from the water and stay vertical without sinking, to track the ball and lunge for it . . .”
“Susanna is an incisive editor with a fantastic eye for story structure. She’s also passionate about helping writers become better at their craft, which really can’t be quantified and for which I will be forever grateful.”
Sea Creatures: A Novel
“A captivating, haunting novel about the complexities of the human heart,” — Abraham Verghese, author of Cutting for Stone
Karma is My Boyfriend
Coming Fall 2024. “The morning of the biopsy, before my kids leave for school, I follow my deaf dog . . .”
“Susanna’s perfectly timed support from my first page to deep character work keeps me afloat in the muck of writing a novel. She guides me. She listens and poses questions. Her counsel gives me courage to write my truth, discern the best form, and find my voice. There’s ease in our exchanges.”
Susanna Daniel reflects on Madison, WI
“I came to Madison, Wis., for the first time in 2001 . . .”
Girlfiending: A Novel
“Playfully written and laugh-out-loud funny, deftly capturing Daniel's signature lyrical prose and human insight.”
“I’ve been working on this novel for approximately two years and eight months. I’m so excited to have a complete first draft, and perhaps more importantly, to have enthusiasm for moving forward and confidence in doing so. I don’t see how I would have all this without support.”
The Goddess of Illicit Choices
“For about a month now, my best friend Amanda has been exchanging one hundred texts a day with a man . . .”
The Quiet Hell of 10 Years of Novel Writing
“There is surely a word—in German, most likely . . .”