On this episode of Awakeners, Lena chats with writers Leslie Jamison and Emmeline Clein. Clein studied with Jamison at Columbia University’s MFA program, and the pair published their most recent books—Jamison’s memoir, Splinters, and Clein’s debut essay collection, Dead Weight—the very same week back in February 2024. We discuss what they’re working on right now, what they talked about on their most recent lunch date, how Jamison’s “Archive Fever” class shaped Clein’s research, how to weave...

This is Awakeners, a Lit Hub Radio podcast about mentorship in the literary arts. Host Lena Crown interviews pairs of writers, artists, critics, and scholars who matter to one another. We chat about how their relationship has evolved, examine the connections and divergences in their writing and thinking, and dig into the archives for traces of their mutual influence (think feedback letters, margin comments, early essay drafts, and more). To listen is to get a window into literary traditions...