Vietnam Vet & Award-Winning Novelist James Janko

Famous Interviews with Joe Dimino · Sep 9, 2025 · 35m

Welcome to a new edition of the Famous Interviews with Joe Dimino series. On this episode, we talk with Vietnam Veteran & Award-Winning Novelist James Janko.

James is the author of three celebrated novels. He first discovered his voice as a writer while working nights as a watchman on Alcatraz Island National Park from 1979 to 1992. Word by word, he fell in love with language and learned the craft of storytelling.

His acclaimed book What We Don’t Talk About (University of Wisconsin Press) explores life in his rural Illinois hometown. Now, his newest 2025 novel, The Wire-Walker, is earning…