First Draft: A Dialogue on Writing

Daniel Magariel is an author from Kansas City. One of the Boys, his first novel, a New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice and Amazon Best Book of 2017, was translated into eight languages and shortlisted for the Lucien Barrière Prize. He has a BA from Columbia University, as well as an MFA from Syracuse University. He teaches at Columbia University. Magariel lives in Cape May, New Jersey. His new novel is Walk the Darkness Down.We talked about vulnerability, writing into the unknown, Daniel's experiences commercial fishing, and finding his title. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Etaf Rum was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York and is the daughter of Palestinian immigrants. She has a Masters of Arts in American and British Literature as well as undergraduate degrees in Philosophy and English Composition and teaches undergraduate courses in North Carolina. Rum also owns a coffee shop and bookstore called Books and Beans. Her novels include Evil Eye and A Woman is No Man, which was a New York Times bestseller and a Read with Jenna Today Show book club pick.We talked about trauma, a Palestinian-American woman's journey to finding her voice, writing the prologue once the novel was finished, her writing process, and finding words where it seemed there were none. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Edan Lepucki is the author of the novella If You’re Not Yet Like Me and the novels California, Woman No. 17, and Time’s Mouth. She is a graduate of Oberlin College and the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and her fiction and nonfiction have been published in Esquire, the New York Times Magazine, The Los Angeles Times, The Cut, Romper, and McSweeney’s, among other publications. We talked about the editing process, mother - child relationships, generational trauma, time travel, and Sharon Olds. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

James McBride is an award-winning author, musician, and screenwriter. His landmark memoir, The Color of Water, published in 1996, has sold millions of copies and spent more than two years on the New York Times bestseller list. His 2013 novel, The Good Lord Bird, about American abolitionist John Brown, won the National Book Award for Fiction. His new novel is The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store. We talked about having faith in the process, tangible creative writing craft tips, creating community on the page, music, odd jobs, and writing a new novel every single time he goes to the page. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rachel Eliza Griffiths is a poet, visual artist, and novelist. She is a recipient of the Hurston/Wright Foundation Legacy Award and the Paterson Poetry Prize and was a finalist for a NAACP Image Award. Griffiths is also a recipient of fellowships including Cave Canem, Kimbilio, Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center, Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, and Yaddo. Her work has been published in The New York Times, The New Yorker, and Tin House. Her novel is Promise.We talked about what it was like growing up Black in 1957 Maine, feeling a work of art, setting, her creative process, and moving from imagery to a finished novel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

David van den Berg grew up hunting and fishing in the Florida swamps. He studied anthropology, religion, and archaeology at Rollins College before moving to Los Angeles to work as an actor. He has a J.D. and a Master of Laws in Taxation from Loyola Law School. He’s the founder of Prometheus Dreaming, a digital literary journal. His poetry collection is called Love Letters from an Arsonist. We talked about his inspiration for his poetry, the influence of the Florida landscape, poetic influences and the creative process. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Roger Reeves earned his PhD from the University of Texas, Austin, and is the author of Dark Days: Fugitive Essays; Best Barbarian; and King Me, winner of the Larry Levis Reading Prize, the PEN/Oakland Josephine Miles Literary Award, and a John C. Zacharis First Book Award. In this episode we discuss the hush harbors where enslaved individuals found quiet and opportunities for ecstasy, why writing lowers his heart beat, the gifts of poetry, and feeling the words as they are written. Of course, there is plenty of discussion on writing craft, creative writing, poetry, essays, creative non-fiction, and literature. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jenny Qi is the author of Focal Point, winner of the 2020 Steel Toe Books Poetry Prize and a finalist for the Paterson Poetry Prize. Her essays and poems have been published in The New York Times, The Atlantic, ZYZZYVA and elsewhere. Jenny Qi received her Ph.D. in Biomedical Science (Cancer Biology) from UCSF. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jennifer Grotz is the author of four books of poetry, most recently Still Falling. Also a translator from French and Polish, her co-translations with Piotr Sommer of Jerzy Ficowski's Everything I Don't Know received the PEN Award for Best Book of Poetry in Translation in 2022. Her poems have appeared in five volumes of the annual Best American Poetry series and have been published in venues such as The New Yorker, The Nation, Poetry, New York Times Magazine, and The New York Review of Books. In addition to teaching at the University of Rochester, she directs the Bread Loaf Writers' Conferences. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Luis Alberto Urrea was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for his landmark work of nonfiction The Devil’s Highway. He is the author of numerous other works of nonfiction, poetry, and fiction, including the national bestsellers The Hummingbird’s Daughter and The House of Broken Angels, a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist. A recipient of an American Academy of Arts and Letters Award, among many other honors, he lives outside Chicago and teaches at the University of Illinois Chicago. His new novel is Good Night, Irene. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices