James Brown (author)

James Brown (born 1957, Santa Clara, California) is an American novelist who has also written short fiction and nonfiction.

His acclaimed memoir, The Los Angeles Diaries (HarperCollins, 2003) is an intimate portrait of his dysfunctional family, covering his childhood, Hollywood script meetings, his splintered marriage and life with his older brother, the actor Barry Brown (1951–78), and his sister, the actress Marilyn Brown (1953–98), who both committed suicide. The Los Angeles Diaries was named a Best Book of the Year by Publishers Weekly, The San Francisco Chronicle and The Independent of London.

Living in San Jose, Brown studied creative writing at San Francisco State University and then attended the University of California, Irvine where he received an MFA degree in creative writing. His first short story was published when he was 16. His first novel, Going Fast (1977), published in a limited edition by Border Mountain Press, was reviewed by Merritt Clifton in Samisdat:

His second novel, Hot Wire (Arbor House, 1985), focuses on the struggles of a waitress and her three sons. The semi-autobiographical Final Performance (Sceptre, 1988), about two brothers in Los Angeles, was reviewed in Library Journal by Kimberly G. Allen, who commented, "Its characters imbued with an honest emotional depth, this work is compelling and profoundly moving."

He followed with The Second Story Theatre and Two Encores (Story Line Press, 1994), collecting together a novella and two short stories, "The Rat Boy" and "The Friend." His novel Lucky Town (Harcourt, 1994) follows a young boy who runs away from a foster home to meet his ex-con father. When The Los Angeles Diaries was published by HarperCollins in 2003, Publishers Weekly reviewed:

His personal essays have appeared in GQ, The New York Times Magazine, The Los Angeles Times Magazine and Ploughshares. His writing has also been featured in Denver Quarterly and New England Review. He has been anthologized in Best American Sports Writing of 2006, Fathers and Sons and Sports: An Anthology of Great American Sports Writing (ESPN, 2008).

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