James B. WellsJAMES B. WELLS is a retired criminology and criminal justice professor in the School of Justice Studies in the College of Justice, Safety, and Military Science at Eastern Kentucky University, and is the recipient of the 2025 Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences John Howard Award, an award given intermittently, upon significant demand, to recognize an individual who has made significant and sustained contributions to the practice of corrections. A former carpenter, soldier, and correctional officer in a super-maximum-security prison and later as a researcher/planner assisting architects in prison design, he has multiple degrees, including an M.S. in Criminal Justice, a Ph.D. in Research, and an MFA in Creative Writing. He’s authored or co-authored over sixty-five books, chapters, articles, and essays, as well as over a hundred and fifty research reports for various local, state, and federal agencies. Recent essays from his research and memoir work appear or are forthcoming in Collateral Journal, About Place Journal, Wild Roof Journal, Military Experience and the Arts, The Wrath-Bearing Tree, Shift, Proud to be: Writing by American Warriors, Trajectory Journal, and From Pen to Page III: More Writings from the Bluegrass Writers Coalition.
His investigative memoir about his father's still CIA-classified death in Vietnam in 1965, titled Because: A CIA Coverup and a Son’s Odyssey to Find the Father He Never Knew, will be launched on Father's Day weekend, 2025. Links to publications, presentations, trailers, social media, blog, and other information can be found at https://jamesbwells.com. James enjoys spending much of his leisure time with his spouse on their Lexington, Kentucky farm located on the palisades of the Kentucky River, where he is an organic gardener and beekeeper.
Today, another milestone in my odyssey has been completed. I’ve submitted my thesis, an investigative personal narrative I’ve been writing for the last decade, to my MFA in Creative Writing committee at Eastern Kentucky University’s Bluegrass Writers Studio. Although I won’t officially graduate till I defend this summer, there’s no time for a well-deserved break […]
At last night’s Bluegrass Writers Studio virtual open-mic, I read an excerpt from my book describing an amazing discovery I made at the Air America Archives. My reading starts at the 45:13 time mark. https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=search&v=482773933397497
At last night’s virtual open-mic of the Bluegrass Writers Studio, I read a draft of my book’s preface, beginning at the 6:40 time mark The book has been in the making for decades It feels good to know my father and I are in the home stretch https://www.facebook.com/BluegrassWritersStudio/videos/467756748167012
The past year I’ve been preoccupied with wrapping up my MFA in Creative Writing coursework and finishing the first complete draft of my thesis/book. The fall 2021 semester was particularly tough, teaching four classes, one, a new graduate course on Whistleblowing in Organizations, and taking my last two MFA courses while revising my thesis. After […]
I was pretty excited on the night of December 8 to be the guest speaker for the Lexington Chapter of Financial Executives International (FEI). FEI, a member-service-oriented organization, advances the success of financial executives through information, community & advocacy, and has a non-profit affiliate, that conducts objective research & education programs. After doing a half-hour virtual presentation on my research and writing, FEI’s members asked me all sorts of intriguing questions. They have already invited me to come back and do an in-person presentation once the pandemic is over.
Hi everyone! Thanks for beginning your journey with me as I uncover clues in the hundreds of letters my father left and learn about his life and subsequent death in South Vietnam.
James B. Wells