First Draft: A Dialogue on Writing

First Draft - Emily Nemens

25 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Emily Nemens is a writer, illustrator, and editor. Her debut novel, The Cactus League, was published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux in February 2020. In 2...

First Draft - Ann Napolitano

18 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Ann Napolitano is the author of the novels Dear Edward, A Good Hard Look, and Within Arm’s Reach. She is also the Associate Editor of One Story lite...

First Draft - Anna Solomon

11 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Anna Solomon is the author of three novels—The Book of V., Leaving Lucy Pear, and The Little Bride—and a two-time winner of the Pushcart Prize. He...

First Draft - Carolyn Forché

04 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Carolyn Forché was born in Detroit, Michigan. She studied at Michigan State University and earned an MFA from Bowling Green State University.She is ...

First Draft - Ander Monson

27 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Ander Monson is the author of eight books, including the non-fiction book I Will Take the Answer and the short story collection, The Gnome Stories...

First Draft - Sahar Mustafah

20 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Sahar Mustafah, writer and editor is the daughter of Palestinian immigrants and she explores her heritage in her fiction. Her books include Code of ...

First Draft - Julian Jarboe

13 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Julian K. Jarboe is a writer and artist from Massachusetts. They are the recipient of a Writers' Room of Boston Fellowship, a graduate of the Odyssey...

First Draft - Katrin Schumann

06 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Katrin Schumann was born in Germany and grew up in Brooklyn and London. Her writing explores our search for a sense of belonging, and the struggle t...

First Draft - Deb Olin Unferth

30 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Deb Olin Unferth is the author of the memoir Revolution: The Year I Fell in Love and Went to Join the War, finalist for the National Book Critics Ci...

First Draft - P. Carl

23 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

 P. Carl is a nonfiction writer, playwright, dramaturg and a Distinguished Artist in Residence at Emerson College in Boston. He is also a writer and ...

First Draft - Chuck Palahniuk

16 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Chuck Palahnuik is an American novelist and freelance journalist, who describes his work as transgressional fiction. He is the author of the award-win...

First Draft - Kevin Wilson

09 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Kevin Wilson is the author of two short story collections, Tunneling to the Center of the Earth and Baby You’re Gonna Be Mine, and three novels, The...

First Draft - Jenny Offill

02 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Jenny Offill is an American novelist and editor. Her novel Dept. of Speculation was named one of "The 10 Best Books of 2014" by The New York Times Boo...

First Draft - Tishani Doshi

24 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Tishani Doshi has published six books of poetry and fiction. Small Days and Nights, her second novel, has been shortlisted for the TATA Best Fiction ...

First Draft - Julia Phillips

17 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Julia Phillips is the debut author of the nationally bestselling novel Disappearing Earth, which is being published in twenty-one languages and was a ...

First Draft - Jill Ciment

10 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Jill Ciment was born in Montreal, Canada. She is the author of Small Claims, a collection of short stories and novellas; The Law of Falling Bodies, Te...

First Draft - Luke Geddes

03 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Luke Geddes is the author of the novel Heart of Junk and the short story collection I am a Magical Teenage Princess. He also makes collage art and liv...

First Draft - Ethan Rutherford

27 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Ethan Rutherford is the author of The Peripatetic Coffin and Other Stories, which was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award for ...

First Draft - Isabel Allende

20 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

  Isabel Allende is the author of more than 23 works of fiction and non-fiction including The House of Spirits, Eva Luna, Of Love and Shadows, and ...

First Draft - Walter Mosley

13 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Walter Mosley is a fiction, non-fiction, and screenplay writer. He has written more than 50 books, including the bestselling mystery series featuring...

First Draft - Jeannie Vanasco

06 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Jeannie Vanasco is the author of the memoirs Things We Didn't Talk About When I Was a Girl and The Glass Eye. Her writing has appeared in The Bel...

First Draft - Adrienne Brodeur

30 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Adrienne Brodeur is the author of the memoir, Wild Game: My Mother, Her Lover and Me.  Brodeur founded the fiction magazine, Zoetrope: All-Story,...

First Draft - Etgar Keret

23 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Etgar Keret is an Israeli writer of fiction, non-fiction, television and film whose work has appeared in The New York Times, Le Monde, The New Yorke...

First Draft- David Quammen

16 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

David Quammen writes fiction and non-fiction with a focus on science and the natural world. He has written more than ten books. His newest book is ...

First Draft - Deborah Levy

09 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Deborah Levy was born in South Africa and moved to England at the age of nine, where she studied contemporary arts at Dartington College of Arts. In 1...

First Draft - Leslie Jamison

02 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Leslie Jamison writes fiction, non-fiction, and memoir. Her works include The Empathy Exams, The Gin Closet, The Recovering, and Make it Scream, ...

First Draft - Amitav Ghosh

25 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Amitav Ghosh is the author of nine novels, including Gun Island and the Ibis Trilogy, Sea of Poppies, River of Smoke, and Flood of Fire. He is also t...

First Draft - Nick Flynn

18 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Nick Flynn is the author of twelve books including the memoir Another Bullshit Night in Suck City and most recently the poetry collection, I Will Dest...

First Draft - Kimi Eisele

11 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Kimi Eisele is the author of the debut novel The Lightest Object in the Universe. She is a multidisciplinary artist based in Tucson, Arizona. She al...

First Draft - Alexandra Fuller

04 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Alexandra Fuller is the author of novels, memoirs, non-fiction, essays, and journalism. Her latest memoir is Travel Light, Move Fast, which focuses o...

First Draft - Terry Tempest Williams

28 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Terry Tempest Williams has written and edited over 20 books, including the essay collection Erosion, Refuge, and The Open Space of Democracy. Her wor...

First Draft - Petina Gappah

21 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Petina Gappah is an award-winning Zimbabwean author. Her novels include Out of Darkness, Shining Light and The Book of Memory.  She has also written...

First Draft - Alix Ohlin

14 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Alix Ohlin is the author of the novels Dual Citizens and Inside, which was a finalist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and the Rogers Writers' Trust Fi...

First Draft - Nathaniel Popkin

07 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Nathaniel Popkin is the author of three books of non-fiction and the novels, The Year of the Return, Everything is Borrowed, and Lion and Leopard. He...

First Draft - Téa Obreht

30 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Téa Obreht is the author of the novels Inland and The Tiger’s Wife.  Her work has been anthologized in The Best American Short Stories and The Bes...

First Draft - Caitlin Horrocks

23 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Caitlin Horrocks is the author of the novel The Vexations and the short story collection This is Not Your City.  She is on the advisory board of the ...

First Draft - Helen Phillips

16 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Helen Phillips, author of The Need, has written five books, including the short story collections Some Possible Solutions and And Yet They Were Happy ...

First Draft - Katie Arnold

09 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Katie Arnold is a contributing editor and former managing editor at Outside Magazine, where she worked on staff for 12 years. She created and launched...

First Draft - Kevin McIlvoy

02 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Kevin McIlvoy has taught creative writing for over twenty-five years. He was Editor in Chief of the national literary magazine, Puerto del Sol at New ...

First Draft - Dinaw Mengestu

26 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Dinaw Mengestu is the award-winning author All Our Names, The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears, and How to Read the Air. He is a graduate of Georget...

First Draft - Peg Alford Pursell

19 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Peg Alford Pursell is the author of A Girl Goes into the Forest and Show her a Flower, a Bird, A Shadow. Peg lives in Northern California and is the f...

First Draft - Rachel Kushner

12 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Rachel Kushner is the author of The Flamethrowers, Telex from Cuba, and The Mars Room. A collection of her early work, The Strange Case of Rachel K, w...

First Draft - Karen Russell

05 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Karen Russell won the 2012 and the 2018 National Magazine Award for fiction, and her first novel, Swamplandia! was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, ...

First Draft - Jennifer DuBois two

29 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Jennifer DuBois is the author of A Partial History of Lost Causes, Cartwheel, and The Spectators. The National Book Foundation named her one of its 5 ...

First Draft - Emily Bernard

22 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Emily Bernard was born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee. She holds a B. A. and Ph. D. in American Studies from Yale University. Her work has appeare...

First Draft - Christopher Castellani two

15 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Christopher Castellani is the son of Italian immigrants and a native of Wilmington, Delaware. He currently lives in Boston, where he is the artistic d...

First Draft - Laila Lalami

08 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Laila Lalami was born in Rabat and educated in Morocco, Great Britain, and the United States. She is the author of the novels Hope and Other Dangerous...

First Draft: George Hodgman

01 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

George Hodgman is the author of Bettyville. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

First Draft - Tina Chang

24 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Tina Chang was raised in New York City. She is the first female to be named Poet Laureate of Brooklyn and is the author of the collections of poetry H...

First Draft - Devi Laskar

17 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Devi Laskar is the author of two poetry collections: Gas & Food, No Lodging and Anastasia Maps and the novel: The Atlas of Reds and Blues.  She lives...

First Draft - Rachel Howard

10 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Rachel Howard is a writer of fiction, personal essays, memoir, and dance criticism. Her debut novel is called The Risk of Us. Learn more about your ad...

First Draft: Miriam Toews

03 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Miriam Toews is the author of Women Talking, Summer of My Amazing Luck, A Boy of Good Breeding, A Complicated Kindness, All My Puny Sorrows, The Flyin...

First Draft - Meg Wolitzer

27 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Meg Wolitzer is the New York Times–bestselling author of The Interestings, The Uncoupling, The Ten-Year Nap, The Position, The Wife, and Sleepwalkin...

First Draft - Joanne Ramos

20 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Joanne Ramos was born in the Philippines and moved to Wisconsin when she was six. She graduated with a BA from Princeton University. After working in ...

First Draft - Nell Freudenberger

13 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Nell Freudenberger is the author of the novels Lost and Wanted, The Newlyweds, and The Dissident, and the story collection Lucky Girls, which won the ...

First Draft - Molly Dektar

06 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Molly Dektar is the author of The Ash Family. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

First Draft - CJ Hauser

29 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

CJ Hauser teaches creative writing and literature at Colgate University. She is the author of the novel The From-Aways and her fiction has appeared in...

First Draft - Erika Meitner

22 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Erika Meitner was born and raised in Queens and Long Island, New York. She is the author of five books of poems: Inventory at the All-Night Drugstore,...

First Draft - Cara Robertson

15 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Cara Robertson is the author of The Trial of Lizzie Borden.  She is an attorney whose writing has appeared in The Boston Globe, the Raleigh News an...

First Draft - David Means

08 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

David Means is the author of several short story collections including Instructions for a Funeral, The Secret Goldfish, and The Spot and the novel, Hy...

First Draft - Susan Orlean

01 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Susan Orlean is a staff writer at The New Yorker and her books include Rin Tin Tin, The Orchid Thief, and The Library Book, among others. Learn more a...

First Draft - Jessica Soffer

25 Mar 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Jessica Soffer's work has appeared in Granta, The New York Times, Martha Stewart Living, Real Simple, Redbook, Saveur, The Wall Street Journal, Vogue ...

First Draft - Sophie Mackintosh

18 Mar 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Sophie Mackintosh is the author of The Water Cure, which is on teh long list for the 2018 Man Booker Prize. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit me...

First Draft - Eva Hagberg Fisher

11 Mar 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Eva Hagberg Fisher is the author of How to be Loved: A Memoir of Lifesaving Friendship. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

First Draft - Pam Houston

04 Mar 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Pam Houston is the author of Deep Creek: Finding Hope in the High Country. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

First Draft - Katrin Schumann

25 Feb 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Katrin Schumann is the author of the novel The Forgotten Hours. She is also the author of the non-fiction titles: The Secret Power of Middle Children ...

First Draft - Madhuri Vijay

11 Feb 2019

Contributed by Lukas

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

First Draft - Esmé Weijun Wang

04 Feb 2019

Contributed by Lukas

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

First Draft - Merritt Tierce

28 Jan 2019

Contributed by Lukas

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 Ange...

First Draft - Juliet Lapidos

21 Jan 2019

Contributed by Lukas

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/adchoice...

First Draft - Christy Stillwell

14 Jan 2019

Contributed by Lukas

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 Literatur...

First Draft - Tommy Caldwell

07 Jan 2019

Contributed by Lukas

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 r...

First Draft - Stuart Dybek

31 Dec 2018

Contributed by Lukas

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...

First Draft - Yiyun Li

24 Dec 2018

Contributed by Lukas

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 Inte...

First Draft - Tom Barbash

17 Dec 2018

Contributed by Lukas

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 bestsellin...

First Draft - Leif Enger

10 Dec 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Leif Enger was raised in Osakis, Minnesota, and worked as a reporter and producer for Minnesota Public Radio for nearly twenty years.  His newest nov...

First Draft - RO Kwon

03 Dec 2018

Contributed by Lukas

R.O. Kwon’s first novel is called The Incendiaries. She is a National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellow. Her writing has appeared in The Guar...

First Draft - Cai Emmons

26 Nov 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Cai Emmons is the author of the novels Weather Woman, His Mother's Son, and The Stylist. Emmons has taught at various colleges and universities, inclu...

First Draft - Sarah Stone

19 Nov 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Sarah Stone’s new novel, Hungry Ghost Theater, was published by WTAW Press in October 2018. Her first novel is called The True Sources of the Nile. ...

First Draft - Karen Bender

12 Nov 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Karen Bender is the author of short story collections The New Order and Refund, the novels A Town of Empty Rooms and Like Normal People and is co-edit...

First Draft - Christina Dalcher

05 Nov 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Christina Dalcher is the author of VOX. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

First Draft - Daniel Mason

29 Oct 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Daniel Mason is a physician and author of The Piano Tuner, A Far Country, and The Winter Soldier.  He is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Stan...

First Draft - Beth Macy

22 Oct 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Beth Macy is a journalist and author.  Her latest book, Dopesick, focuses on one of America's epicenters for the opioid crisis.  The book follows di...

First Draft - Matthew Thomas

15 Oct 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Matthew Thomas's New York Times-bestselling novel We Are Not Ourselves was shortlisted for the James Tait Black Prize, the Center for Fiction First No...

First Draft - Ben Marcus

08 Oct 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Ben Marcus is the author of five books of fiction: The Age of Wire and String, Notable American Women, The Flame Alphabet, Leaving the Sea, and Notes ...

First Draft - Bernice McFadden

01 Oct 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Bernice McFadden is the author of nine critically acclaimed novels including Sugar, Loving Donovan, Nowhere Is a Place, The Warmest December, Gatherin...

First Draft - Amitava Kumar

24 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Amitava Kumar writes fiction, non-fiction, and poetry.  His latest novel is called Immigrant, Montana. He was born in Ara, and grew up in the nearby ...

First Draft - Hannah Tinti

17 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Hannah Tinti is the author of the bestselling novel The Good Thief, which won The Center for Fiction’s first novel prize, and the story collection A...

First Draft - Elissa Schappel

10 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Elissa Schappell is an American novelist, short-story writer, editor and essayist.  Her latest story collection is called Blueprints for Building Bet...

First Draft - Gary Shteyngart

03 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Gary Shteyngart is the author of the memoir Little Failure and the novels Super Sad True Love Story, Absurdistan, The Russian Debutante’s Handbook, ...

First Draft - Francine Prose

27 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Francine Prose is an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and critic.  Her latest book is an essay collection called What to Read and Why...

First Draft: Kirstin Valdez Quade

20 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Kirstin Valdez Quade is an American writer. Her debut short story collection, Night at the Fiestas, received critical praise and won awards. A review ...

First Draft - Joe Mungo Reed

13 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Joe Mungo Reed was born in London and raised in Gloucestershire, England. He has a master’s in philosophy and politics at the University of Edinburg...

First Draft - Stephanie Feldman and Nathaniel Popkin

06 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Stephanie Feldman and Nathaniel Popkin edited Who Will Speak for America?, which includes fiction, essays, photos, cartoons, and poetry from 43 contri...

First Draft - Hannah Pittard

30 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Hannah Pittard is the author of four novels. Her most recent, Visible Empire,was an Amazon Editors' Pick for Summer Fiction, an IndieNext List Pick, a...

First Draft - Chuck Palahniuk

23 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Chuck Palahniuk is the author of novels, novellas, graphic novels, journalism, essays, and even a coloring book.  He is best known for his 1996 novel...

First Draft - Lydia Millet

16 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

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...

First Draft - James Wood

09 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

First Draft - AM Homes

02 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

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...

First Draft - Howard Norman

25 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

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