Leslie Jamison


Assistant Professor, Writing

On Leave, Spring 2021

Leslie Jamison is the author of The Empathy Exams, a New York Times bestselling essay collection, and a novel, The Gin Closet, a finalist for the Los Angeles Times First Fiction Award. Her work has appeared in Harper'sOxford AmericanA Public SpaceBoston Review, Virginia Quarterly ReviewThe Believer, and The New York Times, where she is a regular columnist for the Sunday Book Review. Leslie was recently awarded a Lenfest Junior Faculty Research Grant. She is currently working on two books, both under contract at Little, Brown. The first is entitled The Recovering, a work of hybrid memoir, journalism, and archival research examining the relationship between addiction, recovery, and storytelling, which is slated for publication in the Spring of 2018. She is also completing a collection of essays called Ghost Essays, slated for publication in 2019.

News

'I used to insist I didn't get angry. Not anymore'

Originally published on January 17, 2018
Interview and reading on August 2, 2020

Listen on The New York Times

‘Since I Became Symptomatic’

Three Columbia Writers Finalists for 2020 Pen America Literary Awards

Three Columbia Writers Finalists for 2020 Pen America Literary Awards

February 10, 2020

PEN America recently announced finalists for the 2020 PEN Literary Awards, and Xuan Juliana Wang '11, Professor Leslie Jamison, and Ruchika Tomar '12 are among them.

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Columbia Faculty and Alumni Make the Grade on NPR's Best Books List

Columbia Faculty and Alumni Make the Grade on NPR's Best Books List

December 20, 2019

NPR’s prestigious end of year list includes Columbia alumni and faculty members like Tina Chang '97, Professor Rivka Galchen '06, Professor Brenda Wineapple, Professor Leslie jamison, Karen Russell '06, Professor Binnie Krishenbaum, and Lauren Wilkinson '13.

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Leslie Jamison Opens Cabinets of Wonder in 'Make it Scream, Make it Burn'

Leslie Jamison Opens Cabinets of Wonder in 'Make it Scream, Make it Burn'

October 9, 2019

From the mystique and fate of an outlier blue whale; to the civil war photography of Matthew Brady; to the spooky appeal of a computer game that allows users to create virtual selves; to the museum of broken relationships in Croatia, Leslie Jamison’s new essay collection, Make It Scream, Make It Bur

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Head of Nonfiction, Leslie Jamison's New Book 'The Recovering' is Met with Praise

Head of Nonfiction, Leslie Jamison's New Book 'The Recovering' is Met with Praise

April 24, 2018

Nonfiction director Leslie Jamison's new book, The Recovering: Intoxication and its Aftermath, has been met with rave reviews from outlets including The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Associated Press, and TIME.

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“I Used to Insist I Didn’t Get Angry. Not Anymore.” by Leslie Jamison
On female rage.

An Interview with Nonfiction Professor Leslie Jamison

An Interview with Nonfiction Professor Leslie Jamison

December 11, 2015

Leslie Jamison joined the Writing Program’s Nonfiction faculty as an assistant professor this fall.

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