India, Dec. 21 -- Dear Reader,

It is the second evening of a writing masterclass, and Alexandra Pringle and I are sitting by a pool at Jnane Tamsna, talking under an African sky strewn with stars. Soft light pools around the palm trees, and a slight desert chill creeps in as we talk about the strange alchemy that turns drafts into literature.

Pringle, the former Editor- in- Chief of Bloomsbury, has spent a lifetime nurturing writers: as a publisher, a literary agent, and now a writing coach and mentor, teaching in London from her Chelsea houseboat and here in Morocco.

Here are edited excerpts from our conversation.

I learned to read very late, last in my class, in fact.

My mother would say, "Don't you want to learn to read?" and I'd ...