James Janko
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James Janko's Novels
Novelist, Poet, Veteran | Author of ‘The Clubhouse Thief’ and ‘What We Don’t Talk About’ | New book ‘The Wire-Walker’ out September 23, 2025
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In this interview with Larry Wood of the Veterans Breakfast Club, I talk about my experience as a combat medic in Vietnam (1970) and the origins and development of my most recent novel, The Wire-Walker, which primarily takes place in Nablus, Palestine. I talk about the Balata Refugee Camp, the Nablus Circus School, and discuss the current situation in Palestine and Israel. I praise several organizations that have steadfastly advanced the cause of peace, including Combatants for Peace, Standing Together, and the Parents Circle. I close by talking about Alcatraz Island, where I worked as a solitary night watchman for thirteen years (1979-1992). Photo credit of Alcatraz Island: Don Ramey Logan
New Mexico’s most widely read newspaper, the Albuquerque Journal, selected five best books for 2025. My novel, The Wire-Walker, was among the five. ![]()
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Here is reviewer David Steinberg’s description of the novel:![]()
The Wire-Walker (Regal House Publishing). ![]()
Amal, 16, is preparing to be a tight-rope walker. She is Palestinian and lives in a refugee camp in Nablus, Palestine, also referred to as Israel’s occupied West Bank.![]()
The harsh circumstances of her life do not stop her from trying to achieve her goal.![]()
She gets a chance to demonstrate her high-wire skills when she accepts an invitation to briefly perform with an Israeli kids’ circus in Tel Aviv. Its young performers are Israeli Jews and Palestinians.![]()
Amal befriends Tali, a Jewish juggler in the troupe. Amal also develops a deep friendship with Tali’s mother.![]()
The novel portrays a defiant Amal in a cramped refugee camp. It’s an existence on a shaky social tight rope.![]()
The book is a voice worth listening for its advice, mostly from female characters. If a personal friendship can occur, then maybe a durable political peaceful coexistence is possible for the deep-seated Middle East conflict.
A review of The Wire-Walker in the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs begins with Philippe Petit, "the French-born high-wire artist who walked between the Twin Towers on a tightrope for 45 minutes in 1974, 1,312 feet high and without a net...Amal Tuqan [aka The Wire-Walker]is a Palestinian girl training to be a tightrope walker like her idol Petit, but she lives in Balata Refugee Camp in Nablus, occupied Palestine in 2019. Her dream of becoming a professional circus aerialist or wire walker is her reason for living. As we anxiously turn the pages of The Wire-Walker by James Janko, we worry that his fearless adolescent narrator may not live to become an adult. ![]()
There will be no spoilers in this book review, but because the heroine is Palestinian you can guess that there will be prison, torture, injury, love, loyalty and brave deeds in this remarkable story...I guarantee that Amal will live on in your memory long after you turn the last page.”![]()
––Delinda C. Hanley, Executive Editor of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs
The Wire-Walker has been well received by reviewers. A review of the novel in the November/December issue of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs reads, in part:![]()
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“Phillippe Petit, the French-born high-wire artist who walked between the Twin Towers on a tightrope for 45 minutes in 1974, 1,312 feet high and without a net, is still alive and performing at 76. Amal Tuqan, 16, is a Palestinian girl training to be a tightrope walker like her idol Petit, but she lives in Balata Refugee Camp in Nablus, occupied Palestine in 2019. Her dream of becoming a professional circus aerialist or wire walker is her reason for living. As we anxiously turn the pages of The Wire-Walker by James Janko, we worry that his fearless adolescent narrator may not live to become an adult…I guarantee that Amal will live on in your memory long after you turn the last page.” ––Delinda C. Hanley, Executive Editor of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs![]()
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Link to the full review:![]()
www.wrmea.org/middle-east-books-and-more/the-wire-walker-a-novel.html![]()
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“James Janko is a marvelous writer whose compassionate imagination spans worlds.”![]()
––Naomi Shihab Nye, author of Habibi and winner of the 2024 Wallace Stevens Award ![]()
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“Amal [the narrator of The Wire-Walker] is Palestine’s Anne Frank. The ending is breath-taking.”![]()
—Maxine Hong Kingston, author of The Woman Warrior
Last month, Writer's Digest published my essay, "Letting the Body Lead: Writing Movement, Gesture, and Tension on the Page". In part, the essay describes the making of my novel, The Wire-Walker. "Creation," writes author Deena Metzger, "means bringing to life." Writing fiction is a high-wire act. How can every sentence of a story or a novel come alive? ![]()
Letting the Body Lead: Writing Movement, Gesture, and Tension on the Page
www.writersdigest.com
Author James Janko discusses the connection of the body to writing and connects it to the wire-walking protagonist of his novel.