First Draft: A Dialogue on Writing

Madhuri Vijay is the author of the novel The Far Field. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Esmé Weijun Wang is the author of The Border of Paradise and The Collected Schizophrenias. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Merritt Tierce is the author of the novel Love Me Back.  Merritt currently writes for the Netflix show Orange is the New Black. She lives in Los Angeles.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Juliet Lapidos is the author of the novel Talent and is a senior editor at The Atlantic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Christy Stillwell earned a BA in English at the University of Georgia before moving west, first to Wyoming, then Montana. She holds an MA in Literature from the University of Wyoming, and an MFA from the Warren Wilson College Program for Writers. Her books include a chapbook of poetry called Amnesia and the novel, The Wolf Tone. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tommy Caldwell is the author of The Push and is an accomplished rock climber. He made the first ascents of some of the United States' hardest sport routes including Kryptonite (5.14c/d) and Flex Luthor (5.15a) at the Fortress of Solitude, Colorado. In January 2015, Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson completed the first-ever free climb of the Dawn Wall of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Stuart Dybek is the author of three books of fiction: I Sailed With Magellan, The Coast of Chicago, and Childhood and Other Neighborhoods. Both I Sailed With Magellan and The Coast of Chicago were New York Times Notable Books, and The Coast of Chicago was a One Book One Chicago selection. Dybek has also published two collections of poetry: Streets in Their Own Ink and Brass Knuckles.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yiyun Li grew up in Beijing and came to the United States in 1996. Her debut collection, A Thousand Years of Good Prayers, won the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, PEN/Hemingway Award, Guardian First Book Award, and California Book Award for first fiction. Her novel, The Vagrants, won the gold medal of California Book Award for fiction, and was shortlisted for Dublin IMPAC Award. Gold Boy, Emerald Girl, her second collection, was a finalist of Story Prize and shortlisted for Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tom Barbash is the author of the novels The Dakota Winters and The Last Good Chance, a collection of short stories Stay Up With Me, and the bestselling nonfiction work On Top of the World: Cantor Fitzgerald, Howard Lutnick & 9/11: A Story of Loss & Renewal. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Leif Enger was raised in Osakis, Minnesota, and worked as a reporter and producer for Minnesota Public Radio for nearly twenty years.  His newest novel is called Virgil Wander. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices