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Department of English College of Arts and Sciences

James Braziel

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Associate Professor brazielj@uab.edu
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.