First Draft: A Dialogue on Writing

Yang Huang grew up in Jiangsu, China and came to the U.S. to study computer science. While working as an engineer, she studied literature and pursued writing, her passion since childhood. Her collection of linked family stories My Old Faithful won the Juniper Prize for Fiction. Her debut novel Living Treasures won the Nautilus Book Award silver medal in fiction. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hermione grew up in south London and graduated from the University of Cambridge in 2007 with a double first in English Literature. After working on the Observer’s New Review section for a few years she moved to New York and has lived in Brooklyn since 2010. She writes about culture, especially books, film, music and gender, for the Guardian, The New Yorker, The New York Times, the TLS and others. Her debut novel is called Neon in Daylight.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Zachary Lazar is the author of five books, including Sway, Evening’s Empire: The Story of My Father’s Murder,  I Pity the Poor Immigrant, and Vengeance. I Pity the Poor Immigrant was a New York Times Notable Book of 2014. Sway was a finalist for the Barnes & Noble Discover Award and an Editor’s Choice at the New York Times Book Review, as well as a best book of 2008 in the Los Angeles Times, Rolling Stone, Publishers Weekly, and several other publications. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tara Westover is an American author living in the UK. Born in Idaho to a father opposed to public education, she never attended school. She spent her days working in her father's junkyard or stewing herbs for her mother, a self-taught herbalist and midwife. She was seventeen the first time she set foot in a classroom. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jenny Offill is the author of Dept. of Speculation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Steven Schwartz is the author of Little Raw Souls, Therapy, and Madagascar: New and Selected Stories. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Karen Thompson Walker was born and raised in San Diego, California, where The Age of Miracles is set. She studied English and creative writing at UCLA, where she wrote for the UCLA Daily Bruin. After college, she worked as a newspaper reporter in the San Diego area before moving to New York City to attend the Columbia University MFA program. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jamie Quatro’s debut collection, I Want To Show You More, was a New York Times Notable Book, NPR Best Book of 2013, Indie Next pick, The Oprah Magazine summer reading pick, and New York Times Editors’ Choice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Elizabeth Strout was born in Portland, Maine, and grew up in small towns in Maine and New Hampshire. Her novels include Amy and Isabelle, Olive Kitteridge, Abide With Me, and The Burgess Boys. This interview was recorded in 2013. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Boris Fishman was born in Minsk, Belarus, and immigrated to the United States in 1988 at nine. His journalism, essays, and criticism have appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine and Book Review, The New Republic, The London Review of Books, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, Travel & Leisure, New York Magazine, and other publications His novels include A Replacement Life and Don’t Let My Baby Do Rodeo. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices