James Magnuson was born and raised in the Midwest and educated at the University of Wisconsin. His early plays were performed in street theaters in Harlem. In 1970 he was granted a Hodder Fellowship for his playwriting by Princeton University. He has published ten highly acclaimed novels and written extensively for Hollywood. His plays have been produced at Lincoln Center, Playwrights Horizons and many other theaters. For 23 years he was the Director of the Michener Center for Writers. In 2019 he was awarded the Texas Writers’ Award by the Texas Book Festival. The Texas Book Festival remains the highpoint of his year since its earliest days.