Leslie Jamison

Leslie Jamison is the author, main character, and narrator of The Empathy Exams. The essays in the book take place during different periods in her life; her age, when it is mentioned, ranges from her early to late twenties. Leslie is a writer by profession but also has other jobs at various times including medical actor and Spanish teacher to children in Nicaragua. Leslie is highly educated, having attended both the Iowa Writer's Workshop and graduate school at Yale where she studied English literature. Her familiarity with the canon of English Literature as well as with various aspects of popular culture is clear in her essays as she references both frequently.

Leslie has traveled to or lived abroad in places such as Nicaragua, Bolivia, Costa Rica, and Mexico. This suggests that she has a broader perspective on the world informed in part by her experiences of...