Jan Reid

Jan Reid is an award-winning journalist, novelist, and biographer. He first won acclaim for his magazine writing and his 1974 portrayal of Willie Nelson and other icons of Texas music, The Improbable Rise of Redneck Rock. His 2012 biography of the late Texas governor, Let the People In, The Life and Times of Ann Richards, has won hurrahs from former President Bill Clinton: “Jan Reid gives us new insight into Ann Richards … a leader you wanted to follow to a world where everyone could be a winner, and she never stopped trying to take you there. I loved her and so will you.” Dan Rather: “It’s very good. I’m gobbling it up.” Pulitzer Prize winner and Al Qaeda chronicler Lawrence Wright: “Here is Ann Richards — ribald, ferocious, vulnerable, and hilarious — the last Texas liberal, well remembered by her friend, Jan Reid. A classic Texas character captured by a classic Texas writer.” The Houston Chronicle hailed the biography as one of the ten best nonfiction books of 2012. Reid’s novel Comanche Sundown was honored as best fiction of 2011 by the Texas Institute of Letters. Stephen Harrigan, author of the best-selling novel Gates of the Alamo, wrote: “This book represents a summoning of all of Jan Reid’s remarkable powers. He writes with a scholar’s reach, a novelist’s depth, and a native son’s intuitive grasp. He has long been one of the best Texas writers ever, and Comanche Sundown is his masterpiece.” Other recent books by Reid include The Bullet Meant for Me, a memoir of his recovery from a near-fatal shooting in Mexico City and friendship with a world champion boxer, Jesus Chavez; and Texas Tornado: The Times and Music of Doug Sahm, an Oxford Magazine Music Book of the Year in 2010. Reid’s versatile work has appeared in Texas Monthly, Esquire, GQ, Men’s Journal, Slate, Garden & Gun, the New York Times, Northern Liberties Review, and the anthologies Best American Sportswriting, The Slate Diaries, and A Legacy of Leadership: Governors in American History. He and his wife Dorothy Browne and their collie Gus live in Austin.