Leslie Sierra Jamison (born June 21, 1983)
is an American novelist and essayist. She is the author of the 2010 novel ''The Gin Closet'' and the 2014 essay collection ''The Empathy Exams.'' Jamison also directs the
nonfiction
Non-fiction (or nonfiction) is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to convey information only about the real world, rather than being grounded in imagination. Non-fiction typically aims to present topics objectively ...
concentration in writing at
Columbia University School of the Arts
The Columbia University School of the Arts (also known as School of the Arts or SoA) is the fine arts graduate school of Columbia University in Morningside Heights, New York (state), New York. It offers Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degrees in Film, ...
.
Early life
Jamison was born in
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
, and raised in the
Pacific Palisades neighborhood of
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
.
Her parents are Joanne Leslie, a nutritionist and former professor of public health, and economist and global health researcher
Dean Jamison
Dean Tecumseh Jamison (born 1943) is an American economist and leader in the study of global health. He is currently Senior Fellow in Global Health Sciences at University of California, San Francisco and an Emeritus Professor of Global Health at ...
; she is the niece of clinical psychologist and writer
Kay Redfield Jamison
Kay Redfield Jamison (born June 22, 1946) is an American clinical psychologist and writer. Her work has centered on bipolar disorder, which she has had since her early adulthood. She holds the post of the Dalio Professor in Mood Disorders and Psy ...
. Jamison grew up with two older brothers. Her parents divorced when she was 11, after which she lived with her mother.
Jamison attended
Harvard College
Harvard College is the undergraduate education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...
, where she majored in English and graduated in 2004. Her senior thesis dealt with incest in the work of
William Faulkner
William Cuthbert Faulkner (; September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American writer. He is best known for William Faulkner bibliography, his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi, a stand-in fo ...
.
While an undergraduate, she won the
Edward Eager
Edward McMaken Eager (June 20, 1911 – October 23, 1964) was an American lyricist, dramatist, and writer of children's fiction. His children's novels were largely contemporary low fantasy, featuring the appearance of magic in the lives of ordinar ...
Memorial Fund prize in creative writing, an award also won by her classmate, writer
Uzodimna Iweala. Jamison was a member of the college literary magazine ''The Advocate'' and social club The Signet Society.
Jamison then attended the
Iowa Writers' Workshop
The Iowa Writers' Workshop, at the University of Iowa, is a graduate-level creative writing program. At 89 years, it is the oldest writing program offering a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in the United States. Its acceptance rate is between 2 ...
, where she earned an
MFA in fiction,
and
Yale University
Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...
, where she earned a
Ph.D.
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...
in English literature. At Yale, she worked with
Wai Chee Dimock
Wai Chee Dimock (born October 29, 1953) is an academic who writes about public health, climate change, and indigenous communities, focusing on the relationship between humans and nonhumans. She is a professor at Yale University, and a researcher a ...
, Amy Hungerford, and Caleb Smith, submitting a dissertation titled "The Recovered: Addiction and Sincerity in 20th-Century American Literature" in 2016.
Career
Jamison's work has been published in ''Best New American Voices 2008'', ''
A Public Space
A Public Space is an independent nonprofit publisher of an eponymous literary and arts magazine and book imprint. The organization's magazine, ''A Public Space'', is a triannual, English-language literary journal based in Brooklyn, New York. Fi ...
'', ''
The New York Review of Books
''The New York Review of Books'' (or ''NYREV'' or ''NYRB'') is a semi-monthly magazine with articles on literature, culture, economics, science and current affairs. Published in New York City, it is inspired by the idea that the discussion of ...
,'' and ''
Black Warrior Review
''Black Warrior Review (BWR)'' is a non-profit American literary magazine founded in 1974 and based at the University of Alabama. It is the oldest continuously run literary journal by graduate students in the United States. Published in print bi ...
''. She was a 2024–2025 Cullman Center Fellow at the
New York Public Library
The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second-largest public library in the United States behind the Library of Congress a ...
.
Books
Jamison's first novel, ''The Gin Closet'', was published by
Free Press
Freedom of the press refers to legal protections for public communications media.
Free Press may also refer to:
Publications
* ''Free Press'' (CPBF), the journal of the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom
* ''Free Press'' (Malayalam magaz ...
in 2010.
Jamison has described the book as the account of a "young New Yorker
hogoes looking for an aunt she’s never met...and finds her drinking herself to death in a Nevada trailer. They end up building a precarious but deeply invested life together, trying...to save each other’s lives."
It received positive reviews in the ''
San Francisco Chronicle
The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. ...
'', ''
Vogue
Vogue may refer to:
Business
* ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine
** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine
** '' Vogue Adria'', a fashion magazine for former Yugoslav countries
** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine
** ' ...
'', and ''
Publishers Weekly
''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...
''.
Jamison's second book, ''The Empathy Exams'', an essay collection published by
Graywolf Press
Graywolf Press is an independent, non-profit publisher located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Graywolf Press publishes fiction, non-fiction, and poetry.
Graywolf Press collaborates with organizations such as the College of Saint Benedict, the Mel ...
, debuted in 2014 at number 11 on the
''New York Times'' bestseller list. The book received wide acclaim from critics, with Olivia Laing writing in ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'', "It’s hard to imagine a stronger, more thoughtful voice emerging this year." Each essay uses a mixture of journalistic and memoir approaches that combine Jamison's own experiences and those of the people in various communities to explore the empathetic exchange between people.
Jamison's third book, ''The Recovering: Intoxication and Its Aftermath'', was published in 2018 by
Little, Brown
Little, Brown and Company is an American publishing company founded in 1837 by Charles Coffin Little and James Brown in Boston. For close to two centuries, it has published fiction and nonfiction by American authors. Early lists featured Emil ...
. ''
Publishers Weekly
''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...
'' called it an "unsparing and luminous autobiographical study of alcoholism." It combines Jamison's memoir of her own alcoholism with a survey of others (some of them famous), with a focus on recovery.
Jamison's fourth book, ''Make It Scream, Make It Burn'', was published in 2019 by Little, Brown. It is a collection of 14 essays on the themes of longing, looking and dwelling.
Her 2024 memoir ''Splinters: Another Kind of Love Story'' was published to positive reviews, focusing on her divorce and struggles raising her daughter. In an interview with ''
Vanity Fair'', she said, "I love that you connected that idea of splinters and the maybe painful continuities of selfhood, the memories or parts of yourself that you can’t ever fully let go of or fully purge", referencing the idea the book was named after. To promote the book, Jamison began the ''Splinters'' book tour with fellow memoirist
Mary Karr
Mary Karr (born January 16, 1955) is an American poet, essayist and memoirist from East Texas. She is widely noted for her 1995 bestselling memoir '' The Liars' Club''. Karr is the Jesse Truesdell Peck Professor of English Literature at Syracu ...
in February 2024.
Teaching
In the fall of 2015, Jamison joined the faculty at
Columbia University School of the Arts
The Columbia University School of the Arts (also known as School of the Arts or SoA) is the fine arts graduate school of Columbia University in Morningside Heights, New York (state), New York. It offers Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degrees in Film, ...
.
She is assistant professor and director of the nonfiction concentration in writing. Jamison also leads a group of Columbia University MFA students in a
Creative Writing
Creative writing is any writing that goes beyond the boundaries of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on craft and technique, such as narrative structure, character ...
Workshop at the
Marian House, transitional housing for women in recovery.
Personal life
Jamison lives in
Park Slope, Brooklyn
A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are green spaces set aside for recreation inside towns and cities. N ...
, with a daughter she shares with her ex-husband, the writer
Charles Bock. She and Bock divorced in early 2020. She is a supporter of the boycott of Israeli cultural institutions, including publishers and literary festivals. She was an original signatory of the manifesto "Refusing Complicity in Israel's Literary Institutions".
Bibliography
Books
;Novels
* ''The Gin Closet'' (Free, 2010)
;Nonfiction
* ''The Empathy Exams'' (Graywolf, 2014)
*''52 Blue'' (2014)
*''Such Mean Estate'' (2015)
* ''The Recovering: Intoxication and its Aftermath'' (Little, Brown, 2018)
* ''Make It Scream, Make It Burn'' (Little, Brown, 2019)
* ''Splinters: Another Kind of Love Story'' (Little, Brown, 2024)
Essays and reporting
*
[Online version is titled "Why everyone feels like they're faking it".]
Critical studies and reviews of Jamison's work
;''The recovering''
*
[Online version is titled "Leslie Jamison's 'The Recovering' and the stories we tell about drinking".]
———————
;Bibliography notes
References
Further reading
*
External links
How Doctors Take Women's Pain Less Seriouslyin ''The Atlantic'' – described in an interview in ''The Empathy Exams''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jamison, Leslie
1983 births
Living people
21st-century American essayists
21st-century American novelists
21st-century American women writers
American women academics
American women novelists
Columbia University faculty
Harvard College alumni
Iowa Writers' Workshop alumni
The New Yorker people
Novelists from New York City
Writers from Brooklyn
Writers from Los Angeles
Writers from Washington, D.C.
Yale University alumni