Leslie Jameson has won the 2011  Graywolf Press Nonfiction Prize for her collection of essays “The Empathy  Exams: Essays on Pain”.  

The press release quotes Robert Polito as he says: “The Empathy Exams explores subjects as diverse as slum tourism, parasites, medical acting, sentimentality, ultra-running, and drug wars through the lens of pain. These essays swirl around the physicality of the body and churn through cultural expectations to find a way to represent pain—and the accompanying impulse of empathy—without distorting them through narrative expression.”

It will be interesting to read how she deals with the subject of slum tourism in her final book. Given that her PhD research deals with poverty and degradation in twentieth century American writing, it could be that this is going to be the focus in her essay on slum tourism as well. Should anyone know more about this, please get in touch!