LJ Pemberton is the author of Still Alive, which was longlisted for the 2025 Dublin Literary Award. Still Alive was nominated by the D.C. Public Library System after being shortlisted alongside works by Michiko Aoyama, Colm Tóibín, Kelly Link, and others.
Pemberton’s essays, poetry, and award-winning stories have been featured in The Baffler, Exacting Clam, Northwest Review, the Brooklyn Rail, and elsewhere. Her story, Husbandry, was the 2018 winner of the Los Angeles Review Short Fiction Contest. She holds a BA from Reed College and an MFA from Columbia University, where she studied under Erroll McDonald, Jonathan Dee, Nicholas Christopher, Richard Howard, James Wood, Richard Locke, Alan Ziegler, and Bruce Robbins. Decatur, Illinois is her chosen home.
