The Glamour of Strangeness published to extraordinary reviews in the New York Times,
The New Yorker, Wall Street Journal, and Financial Times


Born and raised in Texas, educated at Williams College, Jamie James worked as a freelance writer in New York for more than twenty years, with regular posts as critic at The New Yorker and The Times of London. In 1999 he moved to Indonesia to concentrate on writing books. He is the author of fiction, biography, and long-form criticism. He and his partner own and operate restaurants in Bali and Lombok.
Selected newspapers and periodicals
Selected newspapers
and periodicals
The Glamour of Strangeness
New book! The Glamour of Strangeness: Artists and the Last Age of Exoticism
Rimbaud in Java
Zadie Smith in Harper’s: “The spectacle of reading someone write beautifully about something he finds, well, beautiful.”
Snake Charmer Book
People: “A hypnotic read.”
The Music of the Spheres
Times Literary Supplement: “An important and well-researched book. The Music of the Spheres is
essential reading.”

Time: “A strangely haunting glimpse into the world of exquisite illusions that Bali was.”
“Jamie James is a very interesting writer at every moment” — Edmund White