First Draft: A Dialogue on Writing

Lydia Millet is an American novelist and conservationist. She has written twelve works of fiction and four books for young adults. Her third novel, My Happy Life, won the 2003 PEN Center USA Award for Fiction, and she has been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize as well as a Guggenheim fellow, among other honors. Her latest work is a short story collection called Fight No More. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

James Wood has been a staff writer and book critic at The New Yorker since 2007. His critical essays are collected in The Broken Estate: Essays on Literature and Belief; The Irresponsible Self: On Laughter and the Novel, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award; and The Fun Stuff: And Other Essays. He is also the author of a novels Upstate and The Book Against God and a study of technique in the novel called, How Fiction Works.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A.M. Homes most recent book is Days of Awe, a collection of short stories.  She is the author of the novels, This Book Will Save Your Life, which won the 2013 Orange/Women’s Prize for Fiction, Music For Torching, The End of Alice, In a Country of Mothers, and Jack, as well as the short-story collections, Things You Should Know and The Safety of Objects, the best selling memoir, The Mistress's Daughter along with a travel memoir, Los Angeles: People, Places and The Castle on the Hill, and the artist's book Appendix A: Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Howard Norman is the author of I Hate to Leave This Beautiful Place. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

J. Courtney Sullivan is the New York Times bestselling author of the novels Commencement, Maine, The Engagements, and Saints For All Occasions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

David Grann is a NY Times bestselling author.  His books include The Lost City of Z, The Devil and Sherlock Holmes, and Killers of the Flower Moon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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