In this episode, I chat with Jennifer De Leon about teaching, learning, her writing, and how reading fiction helps develop empathy.
Jennifer De Leon graduated from Connecticut College with a double-major in International Relations and French, and earned a Master of Arts in Teaching from the University of San Francisco’s Center for Teaching Excellence and Social Justice while in the Teach For America program. She went on to earn a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from UMASS-Boston. She has received several awards and residencies from organizations across the country, including the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, Hedgebrook, Macondo, VONA, Associates of the Boston Public Library’s Writer-in-Residence Program, and the City of Boston’s Artist-in-Residence Program.
De Leon is a winner of the 2016 Walter Dean Myers Grant, awarded by We Need Diverse Books, and named a 2020 Latinx Trailblazer by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
After a decade teaching in Boston Public Schools, Jenn is now Associate Professor of English at Framingham State University, and instructor in the Creative Writing and Literature Graduate Program at Harvard University.
Her stories and essays have appeared in Ploughshares, The Briar Cliff Reviews, Iowa Review, Michigan Quarterly Review, Guernica, and Best Women’s Travel Writing to name a few. Jennifer is the author of Don’t Ask Me Where I’m From and the essay collection White Space: Essays on Culture, Race, and Writing, and editor of the anthology, Wise Latinas: Writers on Higher Education. Her latest YA novel is Borderless.
In 2022 Jennifer founded Story Bridge LLC. Story Bridge programs bring people together from all walks of life to shape, share, and hear each other’s unique stories. By the end of the program, every participant walks away with new, unforgettable connections.
Jennifer De Leon
Don’t Ask Me Where I’m From, Jennifer De Leon
White Space: Essays on Culture, Race, & Writing, Jennifer De Leon
All You Have To Do, Autumn Allen
Imposter Syndrome and Other Confessions of Alejandra Kim, Patricia Park
The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros