James Ungurait

James Ungurait is a Mississippi-born author whose fiction sits at the collision of myth, emotional reckoning, and survival. His debut novel, The Lost Son, introduced readers to his signature blend of mythic atmosphere and interior depth. His breakout literary novel, I’m the Same, pushed that voice to new emotional and stylistic heights—earning critical acclaim, a Pulitzer Prize submission, and recognition for its visceral exploration of grief, identity, racial memory, and quiet love set against the Oregon landscape.

Ungurait followed with a complete literary reimagining of his earlier fantasy work in Phoenix Knight: The Lost Son, elevating it with the psychological realism and mythic weight that have become hallmarks of his craft. His forthcoming novel, This Is How It Ends, represents his boldest work yet: an unflinching deconstruction of masculinity set against the brutal, indifferent beauty of the Mountain West wilderness.

Across genres and imprints, Ungurait’s writing is defined by its atmospheric sense of place, emotional precision, and mythic undertones. Whether depicting a tsunami’s aftermath, a boy lost in the mountains, or a young man confronting ancestry and power, his stories return again and again to the same essential questions: Who are we when the world falls silent? What survives after survival? What do we owe the people we love—and the people we could become?

Ungurait is the founder and publisher of Ungurait House LLC and its imprints, including IRONWAKE. He lives in Mississippi, where he continues to write fiction across literary and fantasy traditions, building a body of work marked by ferocity, vulnerability, and relentless imagination.