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First Draft: A Dialogue on Writing

First Draft: A Dialogue on Writing is a weekly show featuring in-depth interviews with fiction, non-fiction, essay, and poetry writers. First Draft: A Dialogue on Writing highlights the voices of writers as they discuss their work, their craft, and the literary arts. This weekly show hosted by Mitzi Rapkin is a celebration of creative writing and the individuals who are dedicated to bringing their carefully chosen words to print as well as the impact writers have on the world we live in.

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All Episodes

68:15

First Draft - Robert Kolker

First Draft: A Dialogue on Writing ·

2026/10/05

Robert Kolker is the author of Hidden Valley Road, an instant #1 New York Times best-seller and selection of Oprah's Book Club that was named a Top Ten Book of the Year by the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and Slate; one of the year’s best by NPR, the Boston Globe, the New York Post, and Amazon. His previous work includes Lost Girls, also a New York Times best-seller and New York Times Notable Book, and one of Slate’s best nonfiction books of the quarter century. He

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62:27

First Draft - Margrét Ann Thors

First Draft: A Dialogue on Writing ·

2026/09/28

Margrét Ann Thors is a writer based in Reykjavík, Iceland. Originally from Fairfield County, Connecticut, she holds a BA, MA, and MFA from Columbia University and teaches at the University of Iceland. In 2025, she earned her PhD with an emphasis on literature after 9/11. Her creative writing has been published in Glamour, Creative Nonfiction, Ós Pressan, Storychord, and other outlets. Her debut novel is FREYJA.Support First Draft: A Dialogue on Writing on Patreon. No ads, plus extras like cuts

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78:24

First Draft - Sebastian Barry (Returns)

First Draft: A Dialogue on Writing ·

2026/09/21

Sebastian Barrywas born in Dublin in 1955. The 2018–21 Laureate for Irish Fiction, he is the author of nine novels, five of which have been long- or shortlisted for the Booker Prize, most recentlyOld God’s Time. His work has won numerous awards in Ireland, the UK, and France, including the Costa Book of the Year Award, the Walter Scott Prize, and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. In the US, his novels have been recognized by the ALA Carnegie Medal (longlist), the Los Angeles Times Book Prize

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75:57

First Draft - Elizabeth Alexander

First Draft: A Dialogue on Writing ·

2026/09/14

Elizabeth Alexanderis a prize-winning andNew York Timesbest-selling author, renowned poet, educator, scholar, and cultural advocate. Her memoir,The Light of the World, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Critics Circle Award. She composed and recited "Praise Song for the Day" for President Barack Obama’s 2009 inauguration and is currently president of the Mellon Foundation, the nation’s largest funder of the arts, culture, and humanities. Her new work is calledSignals Across Vast

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74:59

First Draft - Roberta Recchia

First Draft: A Dialogue on Writing ·

2026/09/07

Roberta Rossella Recchiawas born in Rome and lived for a time in Lille, France, where she earned a master’s degree in international relations and cultures. She worked for ten years for a big company and then quit office work to devote herself to teaching. She currently teaches English in a high school in Rome. She is passionate about film and literature, especially Russian and French. She lives with her chihuahua, Claudio, in a small town on the coast of Lazio, Italy. Her new novel isAll That Is

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60:27

First Draft - Jess Row

First Draft: A Dialogue on Writing ·

2026/08/24

Jess Row is the author of the novelsThe New EarthandYour Face in Mineas well as a collection of essays,White Flights: Race, Fiction, and the American Imagination.His short story collections include The Train to Lo Wu,Nobody Ever Gets Lostand the newly publishedStoryknife.His fiction has appeared inThe New Yorker, The Atlantic, Tin House,Conjunctions, Ploughshares, Granta, n+1,and elsewhere, has been anthologized three times inThe Best American Short Stories,and has won two Pushcart Prizes and a

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77:15

First Draft - Richard Russo

First Draft: A Dialogue on Writing ·

2026/08/17

Richard Russo is the author of 11 novels, including most recently,Under the Falls,Somebody’s Fool,Chances Are . . . ,Everybody’s Fool,andThat Old Cape Magic;two collections of stories; and the memoirElsewhere.In 2002 he received the Pulitzer Prize forEmpire Falls,which, likeNobody’s Fool,won multiple awards for its screen adaptation, and in 2023 his novelStraight Manwas adapted into the television seriesLucky Hank.In 2017 he received France’s Grand Prix de Littérature Américaine. He lives in

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65:19

First Draft - Michael Cunningham (Returns Again)

First Draft: A Dialogue on Writing ·

2026/08/10

Michael Cunningham is a novelist, screenwriter, and educator. His novelThe Hoursreceived the PEN/Faulkner Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1999. He has taught at Columbia University and Brooklyn College. He is currently a professor in the practice at Yale University. His new book is Unsayable: A Life in Writing.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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57:23

First Draft - Rachel Eliza Griffiths (Returns)

First Draft: A Dialogue on Writing ·

2026/08/03

Rachel Eliza Griffiths is a poet, multimedia artist, memoirist and novelist. Her literary and visual work has been widely published in magazines, journals, and anthologies, including The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Poets and Writers, and Best American Poetry, among others. Some of her poetry collections include Miracle Arrhythmia, Mule and Pear, Seeing the Body, and Lighting the Shadow. Griffiths’ hybrid collection of poetry and photography,Seeing the Bodywas selected as the winner of the 2021

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56:57

First Draft - Kevin Powers

First Draft: A Dialogue on Writing ·

2026/07/27

Kevin Powers’ books, including The Yellow Birds, A Line in the Sand, A Shout in the Ruins and poetry collection Letter Composed During a Lull in the Fighting, have been translated into more than a dozen languages. He has been a finalist for the National Book Award and a recipient of the PEN/Hemingway Award, the Guardian First Book Award, the Prix littéraire du Monde prix étranger, and the Grand Prix de Littérature Américaine, among other recognitions. He was a James A. Michener Fellow in Poetry at

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49:32

First Draft - Laura Dave

First Draft: A Dialogue on Writing ·

2026/07/20

Laura Dave is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Last Thing He Told Me, Eight Hundred Grapes and six other novels. Her books have been published in thirty-nine languages and have been chosen by Reese Witherspoon’s Book Club, Indie Next, Book of the Month Club, The Richard and Judy Book Club, Best of Amazon, and Best of Apple Books. The Last Thing He Told Me was chosen as the Goodreads Mystery & Thriller of the Year for 2021. Her new novel, The First Time I Saw Him is a sequel to The

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66:32

First Draft - Emeline Atwood

First Draft: A Dialogue on Writing ·

2026/07/13

Emeline Atwood graduated from the Michener Center for Writers in 2023. She writes fiction and poetry and is a recipient of the Thomas T. Hoopes Prize, the Louis Begley Prize, the Roger Conant Hatch Prize for Lyric Poetry, and the Le Baron Russell Briggs Fiction Prize. She lives in Austin, Texas. Her novel is A Real Animal.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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54:45

First Draft - Emily Rapp Black

First Draft: A Dialogue on Writing ·

2026/07/06

Emily Rapp Black is the author of Poster Child: A Memoir; The Still Point of the Turning World, which was a New York Times bestseller, Editor’s Pick, and a finalist for the PEN-USA Award; Sanctuary, a New York Times Editor’s Pick; and Frida Kahlo and My Left Leg. Emily Rapp Black has received awards and fellowships from the Rona Jaffe Foundation; the Jentel Arts Foundation; the Corporation of Yaddo; the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, where she was a winter writing fellow among other awards

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60:31

First Draft - Ben Fountain (Returns Again)

First Draft: A Dialogue on Writing ·

2026/06/29

Ben Fountain’s work has received the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction, the PEN/Hemingway Award, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction, the Barnes & Noble Discover Award for Fiction, the Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize, the PEN-Cerulli Award for Excellence in Sports Writing, and a Whiting Writers Award, and has been a finalist for the National Book Award and runner-up for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. His works include Brief Encounters with Che Guevara, Billy Lynn's

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61:55

First Draft - Zinzi Clemmons

First Draft: A Dialogue on Writing ·

2026/06/22

Zinzi Clemmons was raised in Philadelphia by a South African mother and an American father. Her debut novel, What We Lose was named “Debut Novel of the Year” by Vogue, and received praise from the Atlantic, the Guardian, the New York Times, The New Yorker, and others. What We Lose was a finalist for the Aspen Words Literary Prize, the California Book Award, a Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, and the National Book Critics Circle Leonard Prize. She is a 2017 National Book Award 5 Under 35 Honoree. She

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65:08

First Draft - Ruth Ozeki

First Draft: A Dialogue on Writing ·

2026/06/15

Ruth Ozeki is a novelist, filmmaker, and Zen Buddhist priest. Her new short story collection is called The Typing Lady and Other Fictions. Her novels — My Year of Meats , All Over Creation, A Tale for the Time Being, and The Book of Form and Emptiness — have been translated and published in over thirty countries. Her third novel, A Tale for the Time Being, won the LA Times Book Prize, and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award. The Book of Form and Emptiness

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64:07

First Draft - Emma Straub

First Draft: A Dialogue on Writing ·

2026/06/08

Emma Straub is the New York Times-bestselling author of seven books for adults: the novels American Fantasy, This Time Tomorrow, All Adults Here, The Vacationers, Modern Lovers, Laura Lamont's Life in Pictures, and the short story collection Other People We Married. She is also the author of three picture books: Gaga Mistake Day, which she co-wrote with her mother, Mama Hug, and Very Good Hats. She is a Guggenheim Foundation Fellow and her work has been published in more than 20 languages. Emma and

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55:40

First Draft - Lily King (Returns)

First Draft: A Dialogue on Writing ·

2026/06/01

Lily King is the award-winning author of six novels. Her most recent novel is Heart the Lover. She has also published a collection of short stories, Five Tuesdays in Winter. Her 2020 novel, Writers & Lovers, won the New England Society Book Awards and was a New York Times Notable Book and chosen as a top-ten best book of 2020 by The Washington Post, NPR, People Magazine, and The Los Angeles Times. Her 2014 novel Euphoria won the Kirkus Award, the New England Book Award, and was a finalist for the

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63:06

First Draft 12th Anniversary Best Of - Ross Gay

First Draft: A Dialogue on Writing ·

2026/05/29

Ross Gay is the author of four books of poetry: Against Which; Bringing the Shovel Down; Be Holding, winner of the PEN American Literary Jean Stein Award; and Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude, winner of the 2015 National Book Critics Circle Award and the 2016 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award. His first collection of essays, The Book of Delights, was released in 2019 and was a New York Times bestseller. His new collection of essays is called Inciting Joy.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit

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64:51

First Draft - Ramona Ausubel

First Draft: A Dialogue on Writing ·

2026/05/25

Ramona Ausubel is a graduate of the MFA program at the University of California, Irvine. She is the author of the novel No One Is Here Except All of Us and the short story collection A Guide to Being Born. Her work has been published in The New Yorker, One Story, The Paris Review Daily, Best American Fantasy, and elsewhere, and has received special mentions in The Best American Short Stories and The Best American Nonrequired Reading. She has been longlisted for the Frank O’Connor International Short

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