First Draft: A Dialogue on Writing

Bruce Machart's works include the novel The Wake of Forgiveness and the short story collection Men in the Making. His novel was named a Barnes and Noble "Discover Great New Writers" selection and a New York Times Book Review "Editors' Choice." Chosen as a Top Ten title for 2010 by Barnes and Noble, Amazon.com, The Cleveland Plain Dealer, and The Wall Street Journal, the novel was a finalist for the American Booksellers Association's Indie's Choice award and the PEN/USA Literary Prize. Machart lives in Hamilton, Massachusetts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

David Litt is an American political speechwriter and author of the memoir Thanks, Obama: My Hopey Changey White House Years. He is currently the head writer/producer for Funny or Die’s office in Washington, D.C. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lu Spinney was born in Cape Town and spent her childhood on a farm in the Midlands of KwaZulu-Natal, later moving with her family to the Indian Ocean coast north of Durban. After university, she left South Africa to live in Nice and Paris, before settling in London.  Beyond the High Blue Air is her first book. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Eleanor Henderson was born in Greece, grew up in Florida, and attended Middlebury College and the University of Virginia, where she earned her MFA. Her debut novel Ten Thousand Saints was named one of the 10 Best Books of 2011 by The New York Times and a finalist for the Award for First Fiction from The Los Angeles Times. An associate professor at Ithaca College, she lives in Ithaca, New York, with her husband and two sons. Her second novel is called The Twelve-Mile Straight. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jon McGregoris a British novelist and short story writer. In 2002, his first novel was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize as its youngest contender. His second and fourth novels were longlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2006 and 2017 respectively. In 2012, his third novel was awarded the International Dublin Literary Award. His most recent novel is Reservoir 13. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Mexico State University, and has served on the Board of Directors of two national writing organizations, Council for Literary Magazines & Presses and the Association of Writers & Writing Programs. His published works include A Waltz, The Fifth Station, Little Peg, Hyssop, and The Complete History of New Mexico, and 57 Octaves Below Middle C. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Brendan Mathews is the author of The World of Tomorrow. He was a Fulbright Scholar to Ireland, where he taught in the graduate creative writing program at University College Cork. His fiction has twice appeared in The Best American Short Stories and in Glimmer Train, Virginia Quarterly Review, Salon, Cincinnati Review, and other publications in the US and UK. He lives with his wife and their four children in Lenox, Massachusetts, and teaches at Bard College at Simon’s Rock. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Josh Weil is the author of the novel The Great Glass Sea and the novella collection The New Valley, both New York Times Editor’s Choices. A Fulbright Fellow and National Book Foundation 5-under-35 honoree, he has been awarded the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, the Sue Kaufman Prize from The American Academy of Arts and Letters, the GrubStreet National Book Prize, the Library of Virginia’s Award in Fiction, the New Writers Award from the GLCA, and a Pushcart Prize. His new short story collection is called The Age of Perpetual Light.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Laura van den Berg was raised in Florida and earned her M.F.A. at Emerson College. Her books include Find Me, The Isle of Youth, and What the World Will Look Like When All the Water Leaves Us. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nathan Englander is the author of the novels Dinner at the Center of the Earth and The Ministry of Special Cases, and the story collections For the Relief of Unbearable Urges and What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank—finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. His short fiction has been widely anthologized, most recently in 100 Years of the Best American Short Stories. Englander's play, The Twenty-Seventh Man, premiered at The Public Theater in 2012. He translated the New American Haggadah and co-translated Etgar Keret's Suddenly a Knock on the Door. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices