Emily Nemens is a writer, editor, illustrator, and educator. Her debut novel, The Cactus League, was published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux in 2020 and released in paperback by Picador in 2021. Her second novel, Clutch, was published by Tin House/Zando in February 2026.
From 2018 to 2021, Emily served as the editor of The Paris Review, the nation’s preeminent literary quarterly. During her tenure, the magazine won the 2020 American Society of Magazine Editors’ Award for Fiction, published two anthologies, and produced the second season of its acclaimed podcast. Previously, she coedited The Southern Review, a heralded literary journal published at Louisiana State University. Stories published during her tenures at The Southern Review and The Paris Review were selected for the Pushcart Prize anthology, Best American Short Stories, the O. Henry Prize anthology, and PEN America Best Debut Fiction. In 2021 she joined the staff of Stranger’s Guide as the sports/senior editor.
In recent years, Emily has taught creative writing workshops to graduate students (Bennington Writing Seminars), undergraduates (Drew University), in community based-settings (92NY and Center for Fiction), and as an invited guest at universities around the globe (Picador Guest Professorship for Literature, University of Leipzig and Rachel Rivers-Coffey Distinguished Professor of Creative Writing, Appalachian State University). She also has presented craft lectures, manuscript consultations, lit mag coaching and editorial Q&As at dozens of universities, literary conferences, and community-based organizations.
Emily grew up in Seattle and received her bachelor’s degree from Brown University, where she studied art history and studio art. She completed an MFA degree in fiction at Louisiana State University. As an illustrator, she’s collaborated with Harvey Pekar, published her work in The New Yorker, and her watercolor portraits of every woman in congress were featured across the web and on national TV. Her short stories have appeared in Blackbird (Tarumoto Prize winner), Esquire, n+1, The Iowa Review, Hobart, and The Gettysburg Review. She was a fellow and then curator for the Hermitage Artist Retreat, and has had residencies at the Kerouac Project and Hewnoaks. She lives in New Jersey and remains a Mariners fan.
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