Explore UAB

Colleges & Schools

Department of English College of Arts and Sciences

James Braziel

""

Associate Professor This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
University Hall 5051
(205) 934-8573

Research and Teaching Interests: Fiction and creative nonfiction

Office Hours: By appointment

Education:

  • MFA, Bowling Green State University, Creative Writing: Fiction

James Braziel’s most recent book is Glass Cabin, a collection of poems coauthored with his wife, Tina Mozelle Braziel, about building their home by hand in rural Alabama. The book was published in 2024 by Pulley Press, whose mission is to elevate and highlight rural poets. James is also the author of This Ditch-Walking Love, winner of the Tartt Fiction Award (Livingston Press) for his collection of stories. Ditch-Walking was inspired by the people living on Alabama’s Cumberland Plateau. His novels Birmingham, 35 Miles (Bantam) and Snakeskin Road (Bantam) are about an environmental disaster in a nearfuture South. He has received fellowships from the Alabama State Council on the Arts and from Hot Springs National Park. He has received an individual artist grant from the Georgia Council for the Arts. His op-ed about the tornadoes that struck Alabama in 2011 appeared in The New York Times. He is currently working on a novel, The Story of Sprig, about playing basketball in the rural South. You can find out more about his writing at jamesbraziel.com.

James was mentored by Tony Grooms at the University of Georgia. “Tony’s guidance was invaluable,” he says. “It’s why I’m a writer and teacher today.” James wants to help his students find their voice and write about what matters to them most.

  • Recent Courses
    • Beginning Fiction Writing Workshop
    • Fiction Writing Workshop
  • Select Publications

    Poetry Collections

    • Glass Cabin. James Braziel and Tina Mozelle Braziel. Pulley Press. Lexington, VA. 2024.

    Short Story Collections

    • This Ditch-Walking Love. Winner of the Tartt Fiction Award for a collection of stories. Livingston Press. University of West Alabama. Livingston, AL. Fall, 2021.

    Novels

    • Snakeskin Road. Bantam. New York: Bantam, 2009
      • 2010 “Snakeskin Road.” Georgia Center for the Book's list of "25 Books All Georgians should Read."
      • 2010 “Snakeskin Road.” Shortlisted for the 2010 Townsend Prize.
      • 2010 “Snakeskin Road.” Locus Magazine’s Best of 2009.
      • 2010 “Snakeskin Road.” Longlisted for the 2010 British Fantasy Awards.
    • Birmingham, 35 Miles. New York: Bantam, 2008.
      • 35 Miglia a Birmingham. Trans. Teresa Albanese. Milano: A. Mondadori, 2010. Print.

    Anthologies

    • “Necessary Weight, Necessary ” Essay with Tina Mozelle Braziel. What Things Cost: an Anthology for the People. University Press of Kentucky. 2023.
    • “Where the Stars Fall Together.” Nothing Short Of : Selected Tales from 100 word story. San Francisco: Outpost 19, 2018.

    Short Stories

    • “The Boobie Trap” The Literary Review. Volume 62. No. 2. The Granary Issue. Fall 2019: 32-44.
    • “Wanting a Lover Man” (reprint). Fiction: A TLR (The Literary Review) Share. Originally published in Berkeley Fiction Review. Web. November 2019.
    • “Asleep in the River” Newfound. Volume 10, Issue 1. Web. 3 May 2019.
    • “Shiner” Zone 3. Austin Peay State University. 31, No. 1. Spring 2016: 25-33., 2016 Zone 3 Fiction Award Winner
    • “Vittate” Map Literary. William Patterson Fall 2015. Web. 20 October 2015.
    • “Jick’s Chevrolet” Map Literary. William Patterson University. Issue 4., Fall 2015: 61-62.
    • “Baby Forever” Fiction Southeast. Web. 16 October 2014.
    • “Where the Stars Fall Together” 100 word story. Web. 13 October 2014.
    • “Watersmeet” Appalachian Heritage. Volume 42, Number 3, Summer 2014: 5-29., Pushcart Prize Nominee, 2016.
    • “Last Time Jake Played the Blues” Raleigh Review. Volume 4, Number 2, Fall 2014: 56-58.
    • “Ferris Wheel” Phantom Drift Limited. Issue 4, Fall 2014: 73-74.
    • “High Noon at the IHOP” Phantom Drift Limited. Issue 4, Fall 2014: 74-76.
    • “The Old Dog” Clackamas Literary Review. Vol. V, Issue II. Fall/Winter 2001: 225-226.
    • “Jack Who Loves to Paint” RE:AL. Vol. 23, No. 2. Spring/Fall 1999. Vol. 24: 75-93.
    • “Wanting a Lover Man” Berkeley Fiction Review. No. 18. Summer 1998: 87-101.
    • “Biloxi.” Sierra Nevada College Review. VII. Spring 1996: 6-7.
    • “Sweet Sleeping Son” The Chattahoochee Review. Vol.13, No.1.Fall 1992: 64-69.

    Essays

    • “Sunrise at Goat Rock” Essay for Hot Springs National Park Artist-in-Residence Program. Hot Springs National Park. Little Rock, Arkansas. Residency: December 2017.
    • Corner Post: A Guide to Creating a Writing Fiction Southeast. Web.
    • “The Window Between” 3 May
    • “Get a Rhythm” 30 October
    • “Getting Through the Dark Hours” 16 October
    • “The Intangibles” 5 July
    • “Gumption” 19 May
    • “Dirty Your Hands” 24 March
    • “When the Work Calls You to It” 13 February
    • “Start a New Year Writing Cycle” 29 December
    • “Questions of Risk” 13 November
    • “Stop Time” 9 October
    • “Develop a Second Sight” 11 September
    • “Become Kindling” Spittoon. Spittoon Press. Mudjug Issue. Volume 4, Issue 2, Summer 2014: 60-61. 20 October 2015.
    • “The Ballad of JD” Southern Humanities Review. Volume 47, Number 4, Fall 2013: 307-321.
      • Pushcart Prize Nominee
      • Best American Essay Notable
      • 2013 Hoepfner Award for best essay to appear in Southern Humanities Review
    • “Living with the Reality of Tornadoes” The Birmingham News, 27 April 2012: 15A.
    • “What the Wind Carried Away” New York Times, 29 April 2011: A21.

    Poems
    • “September Prayer.” High Horse. Web., 28 January 2024

  • Literary Distinctions
    • 2020 Tartt Fiction Award. This Ditch-Walking Love. Livingston Press. University of West Alabama. Livingston, Alabama.
    • 2017 Artist-in-Residence at Hot Springs National Park. Little Rock, Arkansas.
    • 2017 Artist Fellowship. Alabama State Council on the Arts. Montgomery, Alabama.
    • 2016 Zone 3 Fiction Award Winner for “Shiner.” Austin Peay State University. Clarksville, Tennessee.
    • 2015 First Prize in Fiction for “Tulipwood.” The Porter Fleming Literary Competition. Morris Museum of Art. Augusta, Georgia.
    • 2014 Pushcart Prize Nominee for “Watersmeet.” Appalachian Heritage. Berea, Kentucky.
    • 2013 Hoepfner Award for best essay to appear in Southern Humanities Review for “The Ballad of JD.”
      • Pushcart Prize Nominee.
      • Best American Essay Notable.
    • 2010 Snakeskin Road—
      • Georgia Center for the Book's list of "25 Books All Georgians should Read."
      • Shortlisted for the Townsend Prize.
      • Locus Magazine’s Best of 2009.
      • Longlisted for the British Fantasy Awards.
    • 1995 Individual Artist Grant. Georgia Council for the Arts.