I’m Wes. I’m the founder of Free Range Productions, a small shop that makes documentary podcasts. I also write books and magazine stories.
Previously, I was the Managing Editor of Texas Highways and a Senior Editor for Texas Monthly. I’ve been a Finalist for a National Magazine Award in Feature Writing and was a finalist for Writer of the Year at the City & Regional Magazine Awards in 2022. My true crime podcasts have been downloaded millions of times.
I grew up in East Texas and live near Austin with my wife, Laura. You can reach me at wesferguson@gmail.com.
Podcasts
- The Unforgotten, from Free Range Productions, Summer 2024-Current
- Devil Town, from Imperative Entertainment, Fall 2022
- Standoff, also from Imperative, Spring 2022
- A Dance with Death, coming soon-ish
Books
- The Blanco River, 2017
- Running the River, 2014 (released as an audiobook in 2022)
- A nonfiction book about El Camino Real de los Tejas, the first trail across Texas (work-in-progress)
- Through my teeny-tiny imprint, Pecos Press, I find and republish out-of-print books written by other authors I admire
Recent Awards
- Writer of the Year, Finalist, City & Regional Magazine Awards, 2022
- Leisure/Lifestyle Interests, Finalist, City & Regional Magazine Awards, 2022, for “How Texas Hunting Went Exotic”
- Feature Writing, Finalist, National Magazine Awards, 2020, for “When ‘Angels in America’ Came to East Texas”
- Profile Writing, First Place, Folio Magazine Awards, 2019, for “How Beaumont Photographer Keith Carter Redefined the Artform”
- Travel Feature Writing, Gold Award, International Regional Magazine Association, 2018, for “The Big Empty”
- Business Feature Writing, First Place, National Newspaper Association, 2014
Selected Articles & Essays
- “Who Shot Walker Daugherty?,” October 2021
- “Eat, Prey, Love: A Day with the Squirrel Hawkers of East Texas,” November 2021
- “The Surprising Story of How Salt Has Helped Shape Texas,” July 2020
- “Seeking Solitude, an East Texas Native Discovers an Island of Indelible Characters,” June 2019
Honors, Appointments & Leadership
- Council Member, Texas Institute of Letters, appointed 2022
- Fiction Judge, Texas Institute of Letters’ 2023 Jesse H. Jones Award for Best Book of Fiction
- Nonfiction Judge, Writers’ League of Texas 2021 Book Awards
- Inductee, Texas Institute of Letters, 2019
- Writer in Residence, Guadalupe Mountains National Park, 2017
- Writer in Residence, Madroño Ranch: A Center for Writing, Art, and the Environment, 2015
Public Appearances
- Dobie Dichos literary event, November 2022
- Conference on Texas: Changing Landscapes, The Witte Museum, San Antonio, May 2022
- Viva Texas Rivers!, The Wittliff Collections, Texas State University, May 2022
- Texas Book Festival, November 2021
- The Bookmark, KAMU, March 2020
- Katherine Anne Porter Literary Center, April 2017
- “East Texas in Story and Song,” The Wittliff Collections, Texas State University, October 2014
Anthologized Work
- The “Piney Woods” chapter of Texas!, a state guidebook from A24, 2025
- “The Lost Sabine” and “The Blanco River,” Viva Texas Rivers!: Adventures, Misadventures, and Glimpses of Nirvana along Our Storied Waterways,” 2022
- “The Lure of a Good Truck,” “Why a Mexican Village Celebrates Juneteenth,” “The Seven Territories of Texas,” “These Creatures Can and Will Kill You, Maybe,” and “The Secret Swimming Hole,” Being Texan: Essays, Recipes, and Advice for the Lone Star Way of Life, 2021
- “Let the River Run,” Tales from the River: An Anthology of River Literature, 2018
In the News
- “New podcast focuses on infamous 1992 East Texas disappearance” — Longview News-Journal
- “Wes Ferguson & Imperative Entertainment Team For Prison Siege Podcast ‘Standoff’” — Deadline
- “‘Standoff’ podcast chronicles Mexican drug lord Fred Carrasco and the Huntsville Prison siege” — San Antonio Express-News
- “The epic rise and fall of Mexican drug lord Fred Carrasco, and his infamy in San Antonio” — Texas Public Radio
- “Texas Monthly Receives Four National Magazine Award Nominations” — Texas Monthly
Good Guad Land Co.
If you want to get dusty, you are welcome to camp on my land in West Texas. It’s called the Good Guad Land Co.