Leslie Jamison wins Writers’ Trust award for international non-fiction author

By Canadian Press on June 18, 2025.

American author and essayist Leslie Jamison has won this year’s $75,000 Weston International Award.

The prize, presented by the Writers’ Trust of Canada, recognizes the career achievement of a non-fiction writer from outside of Canada.

Jurors praise Jamison’s “mastery of language” and say she brings rigorous scholarship to writing about her most intimate thoughts.

Jamison’s non-fiction work includes the essay collections “The Empathy Exams” and “Make It Scream, Make It Burn” and the memoirs “The Recovering” and “Splinters.”

She also teaches at Columbia University, where she directs the non-fiction Masters of Fine Arts program.

The Writers’ Trust plans to host an on-stage interview with Jamison at the Royal Ontario Museum in September.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 18, 2025.

Nicole Thompson, The Canadian Press