John Mecklin is a journalist, novelist and editor, who specializes in narrative journalism. He is the editor-in-chief of Miller-McCune, a national public policy magazine named after its founder, Sara Miller McCune.
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After growing up in the Midwest, Mecklin enrolled at Indiana University, where he graduated with a B.A. in psychology. From January 1984 to June 1992, he worked as an investigative reporter for the Houston Post. He then matriculated at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, graduating in 1993 with a master degree in public administration. Subsequently, he assumed a variety of leadership positions in alternative journalism:
Mecklin has received numerous honors, among others an Investigative Reporters and Editors award,[2] a John Bartlow Martin Award for Public Interest Magazine Journalism,[3] and an Association of Alternative Newsweeklies award for Investigative Reporting.[4] Under his guidance, journalists of the publications he managed won:
During his tenure at SF Weekly, Mecklin began working on his roman à clef High Stakes Texas Bingo. In it, Mecklin satirizes Houston politics, as he experienced it during his time at the Houston Post. The novel, which involves semi-fictitious corrupt county judges, shipping magnates, and even vice president George H.W. Bush, focuses on the machinations of Jackie Belfast (real name: Terry O’Rourke), a Democrat and attorney who, after a stint in President Jimmy Carter's White House and a subsequent period in California, returned to Houston to face off with his rival, Bingo Satwell (real name: Harris County Commissioner "Boss" Bob Eckels).
Excerpts from the novel, which has attracted a sizable underground following, are available online.[9]
John Mecklin is married to Nina Dunbar. They have two children.