First Draft: A Dialogue on Writing

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

Kevin Powers is the author of A Shout in the Ruins, The Yellow Birds and the poetry collection, Letter Composed During a Lull in the Fighting.  He was born and raised in Richmond, VA. In 2004 and 2005 he served with the U.S. Army in Mosul and Tal Afar, Iraq. He studied English at Virginia Commonwealth University after his honorable discharge and received an M.F.A. in Poetry from the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas at Austin in 2012. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Curtis Sittenfeld is the bestselling author of five novels: Prep, The Man of My Dreams, American Wife, Sisterland, and Eligible. Her first story collection is called You Think It, I’ll Say It. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sarah Henstra is the author of The Red Word and Mad Miss Mimic. She is is a professor of English literature at Ryerson University in Toronto. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Robert Kurson is an American author, best known for his 2004 bestselling book, Shadow Divers, the true story of two Americans who discovered a World War II German U-boat sunk 60 miles off the coast of New Jersey. His new book, Rocket Men, tells the story of Apollo 8, the first manned NASA mission to the moon in 1968. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Anna Quindlen is a novelist and journalist whose work has appeared on fiction, nonfiction, and self-help bestseller lists. She is the author of nine novels: Object Lessons, One True Thing, Black and Blue, Blessings, Rise and Shine, Every Last One, Still Life with Bread Crumbs, Miller’s Valley, and Alternate Side. Her memoir Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake, published in 2012, was a #1 New York Times bestseller. Her book A Short Guide to a Happy Life has sold more than a million copies. While a columnist at The New York Times she won the Pulitzer Prize and published two collections, Living Out Loud and Thinking Out Loud. Her Newsweek columns were collected in Loud and Clear. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices