author
J. Frank (James Francis) Davis
1870–1942
A newspaper veteran who turned his eye for sharp detail into fiction, he wrote novels, short stories, and Texas-centered history with a reporter’s sense of place. Later, he helped shape one of the best-known guidebooks to the Lone Star State through the Texas Writers' Project.
3 Audiobooks
Back home
by J. Frank (James Francis) Davis
Splashes of red
by J. Frank (James Francis) Davis
Conversation
by J. Frank (James Francis) Davis
About the author
Born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, in 1870, J. Frank Davis built his career first in journalism. He worked in newspapers in Boston before settling in Texas, where he became known as both a newspaperman and an author.
His writing ranged widely. Davis published novels including Almanzar and The Chinese Label, wrote short fiction such as Conversation, and later produced The Road to San Jacinto, reflecting his strong interest in Texas history and storytelling.
During the 1930s, he served as director of the Texas Writers' Project, a New Deal-era program that gathered researchers and writers to document the state’s people, places, and past. He died in San Antonio in 1942, leaving behind work that connects journalism, fiction, and Texas historical writing.