First Draft: A Dialogue on Writing

Benjamin Wood was born in 1981 and grew up in Merseyside. Seascraper is his fifth novel. His previous works have been shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award, the Commonwealth Book Prize, the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award, the RSL Encore Award, the CWA Gold Dagger Award and the European Union Prize for Literature. In 2014, he won France’s Prix du Roman Fnac. He is a senior lecturer in creative writing at King’s College, London, and lives in Surrey with his wife and sons. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Marisa Silver⁠ is the author of the novels At Last, The Mysteries; Little Nothing, which was a New York Times Editor's Choice; Mary Coin, which was a New York Times bestseller and winner of the Southern California Independent Bookseller's Award; The God of War, which was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize; and No Direction Home. Her story collections include Alone With You and Babe in Paradise, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year and a Los Angeles Times Best Book of the Year.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Devon O’Neil is a freelance journalist based in Breckenridge, Colorado, and the author of The Way Out: A true story of survival in the Heart of the Rockies, published in November 2025 by HarperOne. In the past he has worked as a daily newspaperman, a staff writer for ESPN.com, and a correspondent for Outside magazine. O’Neil’s stories have been anthologized in The Best American Travel Writing and noted in The Best American Sports Writing, and twice have been finalists for national awards in civic journalism.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Michael Kleber-Diggs is a poet, essayist, and literary critic. He was born and raised in Kansas and now makes his home in Saint Paul, Minnesota. His debut poetry collection, Worldly Things, won the Max Ritvo Poetry prize and will be published by Milkweed Editions in June, 2021. Michael teaches creative writing through the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop and at colleges and high schools in Minnesota. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Elizabeth McCracken is the author of nine books: Here’s Your Hat What’s Your Hurry, The Giant’s House, Niagara Falls All Over Again, An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination, Thunderstruck & Other Stories, Bowlaway, The Souvenir Museum, The Hero of This Book, and A Long Game: Notes on Writing Fiction. She’s received grants and fellowships from United States Artists, the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Liguria Study Center, the American Academy in Berlin, the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices