James Wade

James Wade is a former Dobie Paisano Fellow at the University of Texas. He is the youngest novelist to win two Spur Awards from the Western Writers of America, and the recipient of the MPIBA’s prestigious Reading the West Award. He is the author of five novels and more than twenty short stories.

His debut novel, ALL THINGS LEFTS WILD, was listed as one of the most influential westerns of the 21st century by True West Magazine and included in the Los Angeles Times's 1,001 Novels: A Library of America.

His Southern gothic mystery, BEASTS OF THE EARTH, was named a Best Book of 2022 by both Deep South Magazine and The Southern Review of Books.

After receiving a starred review from Publishers Weekly, his most recent novel, NARROW THE ROAD, won the Western Heritage Museum’s 2026 Wrangler Award, the 2026 Will Rogers Medallion Award, was a finalist for the Spur Award, a finalist for the Writers’ League of Texas Award, and Longlisted for the Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award.