First Draft: A Dialogue on Writing

Tom Rachman is the author of four works of fiction: his bestselling debut, The Imperfectionists , which was translated into 25 languages; the critically acclaimed follow-up, The Rise & Fall of Great Powers ; a satirical audiobook-in-stories Basket of Deplorables ; and his most recent novel set in the art world, The Italian Teacher.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Donna Masini's latest collection of poems, 4:30 Movie, an elegy for her sister, explores personal loss, global violence, the ways in which movies shape our imaginations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chris Offutt is the author of two short story collections, three memoirs, and two novels including his most recent, Country Dark. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tim Kreider is an essayist and cartoonist.  His latest book is called I Wrote This Because I Love You. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kevin Powers is the author of A Shout in the Ruins, The Yellow Birds and the poetry collection, Letter Composed During a Lull in the Fighting.  He was born and raised in Richmond, VA. In 2004 and 2005 he served with the U.S. Army in Mosul and Tal Afar, Iraq. He studied English at Virginia Commonwealth University after his honorable discharge and received an M.F.A. in Poetry from the Michener Cente...

Curtis Sittenfeld is the bestselling author of five novels: Prep, The Man of My Dreams, American Wife, Sisterland, and Eligible. Her first story collection is called You Think It, I’ll Say It. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sarah Henstra is the author of The Red Word and Mad Miss Mimic. She is is a professor of English literature at Ryerson University in Toronto. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Robert Kurson is an American author, best known for his 2004 bestselling book, Shadow Divers, the true story of two Americans who discovered a World War II German U-boat sunk 60 miles off the coast of New Jersey. His new book, Rocket Men, tells the story of Apollo 8, the first manned NASA mission to the moon in 1968. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Anna Quindlen is a novelist and journalist whose work has appeared on fiction, nonfiction, and self-help bestseller lists. She is the author of nine novels: Object Lessons, One True Thing, Black and Blue, Blessings, Rise and Shine, Every Last One, Still Life with Bread Crumbs, Miller’s Valley, and Alternate Side. Her memoir Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake, published in 2012, was a #1 New York Time...

Yang Huang grew up in Jiangsu, China and came to the U.S. to study computer science. While working as an engineer, she studied literature and pursued writing, her passion since childhood. Her collection of linked family stories My Old Faithful won the Juniper Prize for Fiction. Her debut novel Living Treasures won the Nautilus Book Award silver medal in fiction. Learn more about your ad choices. V...

Hermione grew up in south London and graduated from the University of Cambridge in 2007 with a double first in English Literature. After working on the Observer’s New Review section for a few years she moved to New York and has lived in Brooklyn since 2010. She writes about culture, especially books, film, music and gender, for the Guardian, The New Yorker, The New York Times, the TLS and others....

Zachary Lazar is the author of five books, including Sway, Evening’s Empire: The Story of My Father’s Murder,  I Pity the Poor Immigrant, and Vengeance. I Pity the Poor Immigrant was a New York Times Notable Book of 2014. Sway was a finalist for the Barnes & Noble Discover Award and an Editor’s Choice at the New York Times Book Review, as well as a best book of 2008 in the Los Angeles Times, Rolli...

Tara Westover is an American author living in the UK. Born in Idaho to a father opposed to public education, she never attended school. She spent her days working in her father's junkyard or stewing herbs for her mother, a self-taught herbalist and midwife. She was seventeen the first time she set foot in a classroom. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jenny Offill is the author of Dept. of Speculation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Steven Schwartz is the author of Little Raw Souls, Therapy, and Madagascar: New and Selected Stories. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Karen Thompson Walker was born and raised in San Diego, California, where The Age of Miracles is set. She studied English and creative writing at UCLA, where she wrote for the UCLA Daily Bruin. After college, she worked as a newspaper reporter in the San Diego area before moving to New York City to attend the Columbia University MFA program. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adc...

Jamie Quatro’s debut collection, I Want To Show You More, was a New York Times Notable Book, NPR Best Book of 2013, Indie Next pick, The Oprah Magazine summer reading pick, and New York Times Editors’ Choice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Elizabeth Strout was born in Portland, Maine, and grew up in small towns in Maine and New Hampshire. Her novels include Amy and Isabelle, Olive Kitteridge, Abide With Me, and The Burgess Boys. This interview was recorded in 2013. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Boris Fishman was born in Minsk, Belarus, and immigrated to the United States in 1988 at nine. His journalism, essays, and criticism have appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine and Book Review, The New Republic, The London Review of Books, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, Travel & Leisure, New York Magazine, and other publications His novels include A Replacement Life and Do...

Elliot Ackerman served five tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan and is the recipient of the Silver Star, the Bronze Star for Valor, and the Purple Heart. A former White House Fellow, his essays and fiction have appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The New Republic, and Ecotone, among others.  His novels include Green on Blue and Dark at the Crossing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit...

Kate Manne is an assistant professor of the Sage School of Philosophy at Cornell University. She was a junior fellow at the Harvard Society of Fellows from 2011 to 2013 and has a PhD in Philosophy from MIT. Her book is called Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joan Silber's first book, the novel Household Words won the PEN/Hemingway Award. Her other works of fiction are In the City, In My Other Life, Lucky Us, Ideas of Heaven, finalist for the National Book Award and the Story Prize, The Size of the World, finalist for the Los Angeles Times Prize in Fiction, and Fools, longlisted for the National Book Award and finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award. Her l...

Alice McDermott is the author of eight novels, including National Book Award winner Charming Billy and The Ninth Hour. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

George Saunders is the author of four short story collections, including Tenth of December and the novel Lincoln in the Bardo, which won the 2017 Man Booker Prize. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

James Han Mattson is the author of The Lost Prayers of Ricky Graves. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices