James Welch was born in Browning, Montana in 1940. His father was a member of the Blackfeet tribe and his mother a member of the Gros Ventre tribe; both also had Irish ancestry. As a child, Welch attended schools on the Blackfoot and Fort Belknap reservations.

Welch went to the University of Montana, where he studied under the author Richard Hugo and began his writing career. Welch taught at the University of Washington and at Cornell, as well as serving on the Parole Board of the Montana Prisons Systems and on the Board of Directors of the Newberry Library D'Arcy McNickle Center.

Welch was at the University of Montana when his writing career began in earnest, leading to the creation of works that would establish his place in the Native American Renaissance literary movement.

Welch and Paul Stekler co-wrote the Emmy Award-winning American Experience documentary, Last Stand at Little Bighorn, shown on PBS. Together they also wrote the history Killing Custer: The Battle of Little Bighorn and the Fate of the Plains Indians (1994).

When Winter in the Blood was reprinted in 2007, it included an introduction by Louise Erdrich, who wrote: It "is a central and inspiring text to a generation of western regional and Native American writers, including me."

Welch died at age 62 in his home in Missoula, Montana in 2003.

Novels

• Winter in the Blood (1974)
• The Death of Jim Loney (1979)
• Fools Crow (1986)
• The Indian Lawyer (1990)
• The Heartsong of Charging Elk (2000)

• Killing Custer: The Battle of Little Bighorn and the Fate of the Plains Indians

Poetry

• Riding the Earthboy 40 (1971 rpt. 1975)
• Last Stand at Little Bighorn
• Christmas Comes to Moccasin Flat