How Pulitzer Winner & NY Times Bestselling Author Daniel Kraus Writes
The Writer Files: Writing, Productivity, Creativity, and NeuroscienceShow Notes
New York Times bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize winner Daniel Kraus spoke with us about book promotion as an introvert, writing two books a year, his creative process, and his first sci-fi novel, THE SIXTH NIK.
Daniel Kraus is a New York Times bestselling novelist, screenwriter, and 2026 Pulitzer Prize winner for fiction for his novel Angel Down. His novel Whalefall received a front-cover review in The New York Times Book Review, won the Alex Award, was an Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist, and was named a Best Book of Year by NPR, The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, and more.
His latest novel is The Sixth Nik, “Perfectly aligned for readers of Iain M. Banks’s The Culture series and Ursula K. Le Guin’s “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas”, The Sixth Nik is a galaxy-spanning adventure,” that Booklist called “Strange and intense and impossible to look away from … sf at its most daring.”
Daniel Kraus coauthored The Shape of Water with Guillermo del Toro, based on the same idea the two created for the Oscar-winning film. Also with del Toro, Kraus coauthored Trollhunters, which was adapted into the Emmy Award–winning Netflix series.
Kraus has won the Bram Stoker Award, Scribe Award, two Odyssey Awards (for both Rotters and Scowler), and has appeared multiple times as Library Guild selections, and more. Kraus’s work has been translated into over 25 languages.
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In this file Daniel Kraus, Milena, and I discussed:
How he overcame the productivity “delays” of winning a Pulitzer Prize
When he sensed the momentum shift in his writing career
The distinctive honor he shares with Cormac McCarthy
Adapting Whalefall for the big screen
His first foray into science fiction
And a lot more!
Show Notes:
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DanielKraus.com
Angel Down (Pulitzer Prize Winner): A Novel by Daniel Kraus (Amazon)
The Sixth Nik by Daniel Kraus (Amazon)
Daniel Kraus Amazon Author Page
Daniel Kraus on Instagram
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