First Draft: A Dialogue on Writing

Tracy Chevalier is the author of 11 novels and the editor of one short story anthology.  Her books include Girl with a Pearl Earring, Falling Angels, Remarkable Creatures, At the Edge of the Orchard, and A Single Thread.  She has an MA in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia and lives in London.  Her new novel is The Glass Maker.We talked about feeling writing in the body, Tracy’s research process, adding a touch of magical realism to her work, her writing influences for this novel in particular, her female protagonist, glass making, travel and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tommy Orange is a graduate of the MFA program at the Institute of American Indian Arts where he now teaches. An enrolled member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma, he was born and raised in Oakland, California. His first book, There There, was a finalist for the 2019 Pulitzer Prize and received the 2019 American Book Award. His new novel is Wandering Stars. He lives in Oakland, California.We talked about where creativity comes from, lightning strikes, creative writing, historical figures, music, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lauren Camp is the author of eight poetry collections including Worn Smooth between Devourings, An Eye in Each Square, Took House, and In Old Sky among others. She is the Poet Laureate of New Mexico and was awarded a 2023 Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowship. Her poems have appeared in many journals and anthologies, including Kenyon Review, Prairie Schooner, Mid-American Review, Missouri Review, and The Academy of American Poets’ Poem-a-Day.We talked about being the Poet Laureate for New Mexico, dark skies in the Grand Canyon, the pressures of writing residencies, Lauren read some of her poems, adding photos to her collection, and seizing the day, when it finally arrives, to write. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Stacey D’Erasmo is the author of the novels Tea, A Seahorse Year, The Sky Below, Wonderland, and The Complicities and the nonfiction books The Art of Intimacy and The Long Run.  She is a professor of writing and publishing practices at Fordham University.We talked about inspiration and creativity as lightning bolts and melting, abstract art, aging as an artist, breakthroughs, and longevity in art. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Carvell Wallace is a New York Times Bestselling author, memoirist, and award-winning podcaster who covers race, arts, culture, film and music for a wide variety of news outlets.  His work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Esquire, the New Yorker and other publications.  He co-wrote the nonfiction book The Sixth Man.  His podcast Closer Than They Appear explored race and identity in America and his podcast Finding Fred was nominated for a Peabody Award.  His new memoir is called Another Word for Love.We talked about growing up with unstable housing, how writing helped him look at himself and his life differently, acting and becoming a creative, self-forgiveness, depression and holding trauma in the body, sobriety, the vast topic of love, Star Wars, and being a sensitive human. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Claire Messud is the author of six works of fiction. She is a recipient of a Guggenheim and Radcliffe Fellowships and the Strauss Living Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.  Her essay collection is called Kant's Little Prussian Head and Other Reasons Why I Write. Her recent novel is called This Strange Eventful History.  She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with her family.We talked about her family history, Algerian independence, the wisdom of age, emphasizing character, distance from true subjects, colonialism, and her novel’s structure. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Edward Hamlin is the author of the short story collection Night in Erg Chebbi: Stories and the novel Sonata in Wax.  His writing has been published widely and recognized with a number of awards, including the Nelson Algren Award and the Iowa Short Fiction Award.  He lives in Colorado.We talked about writing family history, research for the historical novel, classical music, the power of creation and redemption, music recording, the possibility of a lost masterpiece, and serendipity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Adelle Waldman is the author of the novels, Help Wanted and The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P., which was published in 2013 and was named one of that year’s best books by The New Yorker, The Economist, The New Republic, NPR, Slate, Bookforum, The Guardian and others. She lives in the Hudson Valley with her husband and daughter.We talked about Adelle’s job working at a big box store, the societal problems of low wage jobs, creating omniscient point of view, Jane Austin, George Eliot, Middlemarch, creating a common enemy in a story, and showing her novel to her former co-workers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sunjeev Sahota is the author of the novels: China Room, which was longlisted for the Booker Prize and a finalist for the American Library Association’s Carnegie Medal; The Year of the Runaways, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and the Dylan Thomas Prize and was awarded a European Union Prize for Literature; and Ours are the Streets. In 2013, he was named one of Granta’s twenty Best of Young British Novelists of the decade. He lives in Sheffield, England, with his family.  His new novel is The Spoiled Heart.We talked about writing socially and politically motivated themes but still making them stories worth reading, unions, the impact of the news and our culture on writing, the strategic reveal of information, creative writing and algebra, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Steve Almond is the author of twelve books of fiction and nonfiction, including the New York Times bestsellers Candyfreak and Against Football. His recent books include the novel All the Secrets of the World and WilliamStoner and the Battle for the Inner Life.For four years, Steve hosted the New York Times Dear Sugar podcast with Cheryl Strayed. He is the recipient of a 2022 NEA grant in fiction, and his short stories have been anthologized in the Best American Short Stories, The Pushcart Prize, Best American Erotica, and Best American Mysteries series.  His new book is Truth is the Arrow, Mercy is the Bow: A DIY Manual for the Construction of Stories.We talk about craft in creative writing and creative nonfiction, managing conflict in stories, bringing emotion and urgency into writing about the human experience, obsession, plot and causation, and clove cigarettes and the novel Stoner.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices