First Draft: A Dialogue on Writing

First Draft - Ada Limón (Returns Again)

Ada Limón is the author of seven books of poetry, including Startlement: New & Selected Poems; The Hurting Kind, which was a finalist for the Griffin Prize; The Carrying, which won the National Books Critics Circle Award and was a finalist for the PEN/Jean Stein Book Award; and Bright Dead Things, which was named a finalist for the National Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the Kingsley Tufts Award. She is the author of two picture books and was the editor of the anthology You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World. She served as the 24th Poet Laureate of the United States. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

First Draft - Jason Mott

Jason Mott is the author of two poetry collections, including We Call This Thing Between Us Love and five novels including The Returned, which was a New York Times bestseller and was made into a TV series that ran for two seasons. His novel Hell of a Book was named the winner of the National Book Award for fiction.  He has a BFA in fiction and an MFA in poetry from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.  His new novel is called People Like Us.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

First Draft - 12th Anniversary Best Of - Abby Geni

This is the fourth in the 12 for 12 Best of the last dozen years of First Draft in honor of the 12th anniversary. Abby Geni is the author of the novels The Wildlands and The Lightkeepers and the short story collections The Last Animal and The Body Farm. Her books have been translated into seven languages and have won the Barnes & Noble Discover Award and the Chicago Review of Books Awards, among other honors. Geni is a faculty member at StoryStudio Chicago and frequent Visiting Associate Professor of Fiction at the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop. We talked about emotional intelligence, teaching creative writing, science and investigation, the perfect murder (fictional that is), following a story to see where it goes, writing from a place of mystery, and moments that make you cry. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

First Draft - Reginald Dwayne Betts

Reginald Dwayne Betts is a poet, lawyer, and CEO and Founder of Freedom Reads, a not-for-profit organization that is radically transforming the access to literature in prisons through the installation of Freedom Libraries in prisons across this country. For more than twenty-years, he has used his poetry and essays to explore the world of prison and the effects of violence and incarceration on American society. He is the author of a memoir called A Question of Freedom, which chronicles his years in prison where he was charged and sentenced as an adult at the age of 16.  His collections of poetry include the best-selling Felon and the newly released Doggerel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

First Draft - Nini Berndt and Evie Bromiley

Nini Berndt is a graduate of the University of Florida's MFA program in Fiction. Her first novel is There Are Reasons for This. She teaches writing at Lighthouse Writers Workshop in Denver, where she lives with her wife and son. Evanthia Bromiley is a graduate of the Warren Wilson MFA Program for Writers and the recipient of scholarships from the Aspen Institute, a Lighthouse Fellowship, a Lisel Mueller scholarship, and Elizabeth George and Carol Houck-Smith awards. She is the 2025 Grace Paley Fellow for Under the Volcano international residency in Tepoztlán, Mexico. Her short fiction and creative nonfiction can be found in AGNI, Prairie Schooner, Five Points, and elsewhere. Crown is her debut novel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices