James McBride
James McBride is an American writer and musician. He grew up in New York, studied composition at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio, and received his master’s degree from the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University.
James has written for several national newspapers and American magazines, including Rolling Stone, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, and National Geographic.
He is a tenor saxophonist who has composed music for various artists and performed in several bands, including his own. He was a member of the Rock Bottom Remainders, a group of best-selling authors who are also musicians. He has won several awards for his music, including the Stephen Sondheim Award and the Richard Rodgers Foundation Horizon Award. James’s writing is equally applauded. His memoir, The Color of Water, spent two years on The New York Times bestseller list and won an Anisfield-Wolf Book Award. It has become part of high school and university curricula across the United States. Several of his works have been adapted for film and television, including his debut novel, Miracle at St. Anna (directed by Spike Lee), and The Good Lord Bird (starring Ethan Hawke). His latest novel, The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, was awarded the Kirkus Prize for Fiction and the 2024 Jewish Fiction Award.
James is also the recipient of the 2013 National Book Award for fiction for his novel The Good Lord Bird. In 2016, President Barack Obama awarded James the 2015 National Humanities Medal “for humanizing the complexities of discussing race in America. Through writings about his own uniquely American story, and his works of fiction informed by our shared history, his moving stories of love display the character of the American family.”
James has three children and lives in New York City and Lambertville, New Jersey.
