First Draft: A Dialogue on Writing

First Draft - Stewart O'Nan

Stewart O’Nan’s award-winning fiction includes Snow Angels, A Prayer for the Dying, Last Night at the Lobster, and Emily, Alone. His 2007 novel, Last Night at the Lobster, was a national bestseller and a finalist for the Los Angeles TimesBook Prize. Granta named him one of America’s Best Young Novelists.  His new novel is Evensong.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

First Draft - Angela Flournoy

Angela Flournoy’s debut novel The Turner House was a finalist for the National Book Award and won the VCU Cabell First Novel Prize and was a finalist for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize and an NAACP Image Award. Her new novel, The Wilderness, was long listed for the National Book Award and was a finalist for the Kirkus Prize.  Her nonfiction has appeared in The New York Times, The Nation, The Los Angeles Times and The New Yorker among others. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

First Draft- Jonathan Parks-Ramage

Jonathan Parks-Ramage is a novelist, playwright, screenwriter and journalist. He is also the author of the novel Yes, Daddy named one of the best queer books of 2021 by Entertainment Weekly, NBC News, The Advocate, Lambda Literary, Bustle, Goodreads and more. He is the Co-Creator of the Big Gay Jamboree, an Off-Broadway musical, nominated for five Lucille Lor-tell Awards, three Outer Critics Circle Awards, and four Drama Desk Awards.  His new book It’s Not the End of the World was selected by The New York Times Style Magazine as a pick for Best Queer Summer Fiction.​ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

First Draft - 12th Anniversary Best Of - Ben Okri

Ben Okri is a poet, novelist, essayist, short story writer, anthologist, aphorist, and playwright. He has also written film scripts. His works have won numerous national and international prizes, including the Booker Prize for Fiction. His newest book is a short story collection called Prayer for the Living. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

First Draft - Jaquira Diaz

Jaquira Díaz was raised between Humacao, Fajardo, Puerto Rico and Miami Beach. She is the author of Ordinary Girls: A Memoir, winner of a Whiting Award, a Florida Book Awards Gold Medal, a Lambda Literary Awards finalist, an American Booksellers Association Indies Introduce Selection, a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Selection, an Indie Next Pick, a Library Reads pick, and finalist for the B&N Discover Prize. Her stories, poems, and essays have been anthologized in The Best American Essays, The Breakbeat Poets Vol. 4: LatiNext, Best American Experimental Writing, and The Pushcart Prize anthology. Her debut novel, This Is the Only Kingdom, was longlisted for the Center for Fiction 2025 First Novel Prize. She lives in New York and teaches at Columbia University. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices