First Draft: A Dialogue on Writing is a literary podcast produced and hosted by Mitzi Rapkin. Each week the podcast features an in-depth interview with a fiction, non-fiction, essay, or poetry writer. The show is equal parts investigation into the craft of writing and conversation about the topics of an author’s work.
ABOUT THE WAY OUT
In The Way Out: A True Story of Survival in the Heart of the Rockies tells a harrowing true story, capturing a tale of survival, tragedy, and resilience in the Colorado backcountry. In January 2017 three fathers and four teenage children set off on what was meant to be a memorable bonding trip in the rugged wilderness outside Salida, Colorado. During the trip, fifteen-year-old Cole Walters-Schaler and Brett Beasley, a legendary Forest Service ranger, embarked on what should have been a brief ski into the alpine backcountry. Within hours, an unpredictable blizzard transformed their adventure into a thirty-hour ordeal that left the entire community reeling. Through exclusive first hand interviews and a painstakingly researched, vivid reconstruction of events, O’Neil chronicles the life-or-death struggle of Cole and Brett while dissecting the emotional wreckage left behind. He also probes deeper questions: what drives outdoorsmen and women to seek out adventure despite the risk? When tragedy strikes, how does a community support the survivors? And most importantly, how do those touched by loss begin to find healing and forgiveness in the face of the unthinkable? The Way Out is a testament to our enduring fascination with the outdoors and a sobering reminder of its unforgiving power by examining the emotional and ethical questions raised by lives lived on the edge. O’Neil’s exploration of trauma, community, and the allure of the mountains makes for a profoundly moving and unforgettable read.With little evidence, would-be author P.J. Larkin serves a “nibble” on the trendy new social-media app Crave, accusing editor George Dunn of stealing the novel she submitted to him for publication. The nibble shoots to the top of the site’s Popular Menu Items and before you can say “unpaid literary labor,” George is embroiled in a scandal, his job and book deal in jeopardy. P.J.’s novel is snapped up amid the publicity, but has she revealed her sister Mia’s secrets in the book? Some diners on Crave think so, and now it’s P.J.’s turn to feel the public’s scorn. Told in the humorous vein of Where’d You Go, Bernadette?, A Complete Fiction examines the very serious questions of who has a right to tell a story, and has cancel culture gone too far in our social media-drenched world?
ABOUT DEVON O’NEIL
Devon O’Neil is a journalist based in Breckenridge, Colorado. O’Neil got his start as a daily newspaperman and later worked as a staff writer at ESPN.com and as a correspondent for Outside magazine. His stories have been recognized in the Best American Travel Writing and Best American Sports Writing anthologies and have twice been finalists for national awards in civic journalism. Raised on St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands, he studied psychology at Middlebury College and often writes about the effects of psychological trauma on adventurers. In the winter, he helps maintain a network of backcountry ski cabins above 11,000 feet.
Mitzi Rapkin is the founder, host and producer of the literary podcast, “First Draft: A Dialogue on Writing,” which features a new author interview each week. She has interviewed more than 500 contemporary writers of fiction, nonfiction, essays, and poetry over the past eleven years. Her conversations explore essential questions about what it means to be human alongside the craft of writing and the themes of the writers’ works. Rapkin is also a journalist, fiction writer, certified integral coach, facilitator, and fiction-writing instructor.
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