First Draft Episode #246: Edan Lepucki

Edan Lepucki, New York Times bestselling author of California and Woman No. 17. Edan’s latest project is Mothers Before, a collection of essays and photographs based on the popular Instagram Mothers Before, which Edan created. She is also the co-host, with fellow writer Amelia Morris, of the podcast Mom Rage.

Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode

• Dan Chaon, author of Ill Will, Await Your Reply, and You Remind Me of Me, was an influential teacher in Edan’s young writing life

• A breakthrough moment for Edan was drafting a story that mimicked the structure used by Cary Holladay in “Merry-Go-Sorry,” a short story published in Alaska Quarterly Review (read an excerpt of the story, based on the West Memphis 3, here). Cary is also the author of Brides in the Sky: Stories and a Novella and The Quick-Change Artist: Stories.

• Edan worked at Book Soup, a local bookstore in Los Angeles, Calif.

• For 45 years, until her recent retirement, Connie Brothers shaped the Iowa Writer’s Workshop, including by calling every accepted writer personally to welcome them to the program.

• As a graduate of the Iowa Writers Workshop, Edan is in a position to correct the depiction of the esteemed writing program in HBO’s Girls

• Frank Conroy, director of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, conroy-dies-at-69-led-noted-writers-workshop.html">died halfway through Edan’s time at the program. He was replaced by Lan Samantha Chang, who has been credited with a shift in the program’s makeup and away from a once-toxic environment.

• Raymond Carver, author of What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, Cathedral, and Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?

• George Saunders, author of Lincoln in the Bardo: A Novel, and Tenth of December: Stories

• Lorrie Moore, author of Birds of America: Stories and Self-Help and Who Will Run the Frog Hospital?

• Mary Gaitskill, This Is Pleasure: A Story, Bad Behavior: Stories, and Because They Wanted To

• Edan founded Writing Workshop L.A. after coming home from Iowa

• Leslie Parry, author of Church of Marvels, was a classmate of Edan’s at Iowa and one of the earliest authors to help teach at Writing Workshop L.A.

• Chris Daley was another early writing instructor who now serves as director of Writing Workshop L.A.

• The UCross Residency program in Wyoming

• The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

• Edan’s appearance on The Colbert Report

• lepuckis-novel-california-gets-a-boost-from-colbert.html">The New York Times profile about Edan’s debut experience with California, written by Brooks Barnes

• Appearing on Fresh Air with Terry Gross is one of Edan’s life goals

• Aimee Bender, author of Willful Creatures, The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake, and The Girl in the Flammable Skirt: Stories

• Edan’s agent, Erin Hosier

• “mothers-as-we-never-saw-them.html">Our Mothers as We Never Saw Them,” a piece Edan wrote for the New York Times that went viral

• Writers who contributed to Mothers Before include: Brit Bennett (author of The Mothers: A Novel); Jennine Capó Crucet (author of Make Your Home Among Strangers and My Time Among the Whites: Notes From an Unfinished Education); Jennifer Egan (author of A Visit From the Goon Squad and Manhattan Beach: A Novel); Angela Garbes (author of Like a Mother: A Feminist Journey Through The Science and Culture of Pregnancy); Annabeth Gish; Alison Roman (author of Nothing Fancy: Unfancy Food For Having People Over); Lisa See (author of The Island of Sea Women: A Novel and Snow Flower and the Secret Fan); Danzy Senna (author of Caucasia: A Novel, and New People); Dana Spiotta (author of Eat the Document: A Novel and Stone Arabia: A Novel); and Jia Tolentino (author of Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion).

• Annie Dillard, author of The Writing Life, as well as Pilgrim at Tinker Creek and An American Childhood

• Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project: Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun and Better than Before: What I Learned About Making and Breaking Habits—To Sleep More, Quit Sugar, Procrastinate Less, and Generally Build a Happier LIfe

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