Compton graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Degree (BA) in English from the University of Pikeville and with a Master of Fine Arts Degree (MFA) in Writing from the Sena Jeter Naslund-Karen Mann Graduate School of Writing at the University of Louisville.
He began his publishing career as the author of the short story collections The Same Terrible Storm (Foxhead Books, 2012), Where Alligators Sleep (Foxhead Books, 2014), Absolute Invention (Secret History Books, 2019) and Sway (Cowboy Jamboree Press, 2020).
Compton is also the author of the novels Brown Bottle (Bottom Dog Press, 2016), Dysphoria (Cowboy Jamboree Press, 2019), Alice (Cowboy Jamboree Press, 2023), and Oblivion Angels (Cowboy Jamboree Press, 2025).
His poetry chapbook Podunk Lore was part of the Lantern Lit series (Dog On a Chain Press, 2018) and his first full-length poetry collection, Runaways, was published in 2021 by Alien Buddha Press.
Compton is also the author of the novels Brown Bottle (Bottom Dog Press, 2016), Dysphoria (Cowboy Jamboree Press, 2019), Alice (Cowboy Jamboree Press, 2023), and Oblivion Angels (Cowboy Jamboree Press, 2025).
His poetry chapbook Podunk Lore was part of the Lantern Lit series (Dog On a Chain Press, 2018) and his first full-length poetry collection, Runaways, was published in 2021 by Alien Buddha Press.
Compton's novel, Alice, was named one of the Best Books of 2023 as selected by the Independent Fiction Alliance.
In 2012, Compton was a finalist for both the Gertrude Stein Fiction Award and the Still Fiction Award. His writing has been nominated twice for the Chaffin Award for Excellence in Appalachian Writing, several times forPushcart Prize, and longlisted for Wigleaf's Top 50. He was cited twice for Best Small Fictions, in 2015 and 2016, before having his short story "Aversion" included in Best Small Fictions 2019 and his short story "The Good Life" included in Best Small Fictions 2022.
In 2021 Cowboy Jamboree Press published The Collected Stories of Sheldon Lee Compton and followed that in 2022, on the anniversary of author Breece D'J Pancake's tragic death on April 8, 1979, Compton's memoir The Orchard Is Full of Sound, which the publisher describes as a book that "reflects on his [Compton's] own life, his struggles with poverty and divorce and violence and addiction and fatherhood and an early heart attack and trying to make it as a writer in rural Kentucky, all the while trying to trace the life and tragic ending of one of his literary heroes, Breece D'J Pancake."
In 2012, Compton was a finalist for both the Gertrude Stein Fiction Award and the Still Fiction Award. His writing has been nominated twice for the Chaffin Award for Excellence in Appalachian Writing, several times forPushcart Prize, and longlisted for Wigleaf's Top 50. He was cited twice for Best Small Fictions, in 2015 and 2016, before having his short story "Aversion" included in Best Small Fictions 2019 and his short story "The Good Life" included in Best Small Fictions 2022.
He is also the editor of the journal of narrative concerns The Airgonaut.
A list of links to his selected works (short stories, essays, poetry, etc.) as well as select interviews can be found here.
Compton's books can be purchased at Amazon or directly from the publisher. Here is a link to his current books.
His most recent novel, Oblivion Angels, was released in January of 2025 from Cowboy Jamboree Press.
Upcoming publications include the novel The Old Invisible, due for release in May of 2026, and the short story collection Fallujah Boy and Other Stories in 2027 (both from Cowboy Jamboree Press), as well as the prose poetry collection Shark Life in 2026 (Alien Buddha Press).
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