020 - Surviving and Thriving Beyond The Sarah Lawrence Cult

The Gaslight Effect

On this episode, Dr. Robin Stern interviews writer and producer, Daniel Levin.

Daniel Levin holds an MFA in poetry from the University of California, Irvine, where he taught creative writing and rhetoric, and a bachelor’s degree from Sarah Lawrence College. He is the winner of the Stanley and Evelyn Lipkin Prize for Poetry, the Lynn Garnier Memorial Award and is the recipient of fellowships from The Frost Place, Tent, The Sarah Lawrence Summer Seminar for Writers, and The Community of Writers at Squaw Valley. His writing has appeared in Provincetown Arts, Bat City Review, The Sarah Lawrence Review, The Westchester Review, The Offbeat, The Fourth River, and The Bennington Review. He lives in Los Angeles.

Daniel is the author of Slonim Woods 9: A Memoir, which recounts Daniel's involvement, and subsequent escape from the college cult that rocked the nation in 2019.

Daniel is also an Executive Producer of Stolen Youth: Inside the Cult at Sarah Lawrence, a three-part series airing on Hulu, that documents "A group of bright Sarah Lawrence College students" that "fall under the dark influence of a friend’s father, Larry Ray. With unprecedented access to the survivors who lived with Ray, the film follows the cult from its origins through its still-unfolding aftermath."

Daniel and Robin discuss the path that led Daniel into this cult, the bizarre and often terrifying experiences he had, and ultimately his escape from the grip of Larry Ray.

Daniel not only survived the ordeal, but is now thriving as an author and teacher.

To read the full transcript of this episode and to hear other episodes, head over to robinstern.com, and please leave a rating and review wherever you listen to this podcast!