Paul Kix

Paul Kix is an American journalist, author, film producer, and entrepreneur.

He worked for two decades in magazines—ultimately as a deputy editor and writer at ESPN the Magazine^[1], while freelancing for publications like The New Yorker,^[2] The Atlantic^[3], and Esquire^[4]—and since 2020 has focused on writing nonfiction books.

Kix's first book, The Saboteur, an Amazon No.1 best-seller, was optioned by DreamWorks to be turned into a film^[5]. His second, You Have to be Prepared to Die Before You Can Begin to Live, also a best-seller, was named to Amazon's and The New York Times' respective Best Books of the Year lists^[6][7].

The 2023 film The Accidental Getaway Driver is based upon a 2017 piece Kix wrote for GQ^[8].^[9] Kix served as an executive producer on the film^[10], which won the Best Director Prize at the Sundance Film Festival.^[11]

Kix ghost-edits certain books for celebrities and C-suite executives and founders. He worked with Luke Russert on his 2023 memoir, Look for Me There^[12], a New York Times best-seller.

Kix's course on writing, The Storytelling You^[13], has led students to win Emmy Awards, gain National Magazine Award nominations^[14], and ink six-figure book deals^[15]. Kix consults with a select number of founders and business executives^[16].

He graduated from Iowa State University in 2003.^[17]

Kix started his career at Phoenix New Times^[18] before moving on to The Dallas Observer,^[19] D magazine,^[20] Boston magazine^[21] and ESPN: the Magazine, where he split his time between editing features and writing them^[22][23]. He edited the features of Pulitzer-prize winners, like Eli Saslow^[24], and New York Times best-selling authors like Wright Thompson^[25]. At ESPN, Kix was part of a team in 2017 that won the General Excellence Award from the American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME)^[26].

The 2023 film The Accidental Getaway Driver is based upon a 2017 piece Kix wrote for GQ^[8].^[9] Kix served as an executive producer on the film^[10], which won the Best Director Prize at the Sundance Film Festival.^[11]

A 2022 story Kix wrote about two men wrongfully convicted of murder for The Atlantic led President Joe Biden to commute those sentences in 2025^[27].

Kix is married with three children and lives in Connecticut^[28][29].

• You Have to be Prepared to Die Before You Can Begin to Live (Celadon, 2023)^[30][31]
• The Saboteur: The Aristocrat Who Became France's Most Daring Anti-Nazi Commando (2018)^[32][33]

• Official website