James McBride (born September 11, 1957) is an American writer and musician. He is the recipient of the 2013 National Book Award for Fiction for his novel The Good Lord Bird.

McBride's father, Andrew D. McBride was African-American; he was a reverend and died of cancer at the age of 45. His mother, Ruchel Dwajra Zylska (name changed to Rachel Deborah Shilsky, and later to Ruth McBride Jordan), was a Jewish immigrant from Poland. James was raised in Brooklyn's Red Hook housing projects until he was seven years old and was the last child Ruth had from her first marriage, the last child of Andrew McBride, and the eighth of 12 children.

McBride has stated:

Technically I guess you could say I'm Jewish since my mother was Jewish...but she converted (to Christianity). So the question is for theologians to answer."

His memoir, The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother (1995), describes his family history and his relationship with his mother.

McBride graduated from Oberlin College in 1979, and received his journalism degree from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 1980.

McBride is known for his 1995 bestselling memoir The Color of Water, which describes his life growing up in a large, poor American-African family led by an ethnically Jewish mother. His mother was the daughter of an Orthodox rabbi. During her first marriage, to James McBride's father Andrew McBride, she converted to Christianity and became a devout Christian. The memoir, which won an Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, spent more than two years on The New York Times Best Seller list. It is read in high schools and universities across America, has been translated into 16 languages, and sold more than 2.1 million copies.

In 2002, McBride published the novel Miracle at St. Anna, drawing on the history of the majority African-American 92nd Infantry Division in the Italian campaign from mid-1944 to April 1945. The book was adapted into the 2008 movie Miracle at St. Anna, directed by Spike Lee.