Manley taught English at
Yale University from 1959 to 1964 before returning to Emory as an associate professor in 1964. He remained there until his retirement in 2000, He founded a creative writing program and co-founded the Playwriting Center. From around 1970, Manley published as a creative artist, with poems, plays, short stories and novels to his name. He was twice awarded a Georgia Author of the Year Award, for the novel
The Cockfighter (1998) and for the short story collection
Among Prisoners (2000). His main academic publications were an edition of
John Donne's
Anniversaries (1963) and an edition of
Thomas More's
Dialogue of Comfort against Tribulation (1976). == Personal life and legacy ==