Jana Meisenholder

Jana Meisenholder is an Australian American magazine journalist specializing in narrative nonfiction features. Her work has appeared in Esquire, The New York Times, Rolling Stone, The Atavist Magazine, and The Wall Street Journal, among other publications. She has won awards from the Los Angeles Press Club and the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA). Her story for The Atavist, "King of the Hill," was anthologized in The Year's Best Sports Writing 2023 (Triumph Books). Several of her stories have been optioned for scripted and unscripted development.

 

Whether she’s reporting on a rogue operator treating sick children in defiance of federal law or the uncredited wife of a literary icon, Jana keeps finding her way back to the same subject: the underdog. She’ll admit she probably sees a little of herself in them—insight that, unlike her therapist, she’s giving away to you for free (you’re welcome).

 

Born in Japan, Jana immigrated to Australia with her Taiwanese mother when she was five. To assimilate into her new surroundings—and, seemingly, born without an internal “stranger danger” warning system—she struck up conversations with anyone and everyone she met, accidentally training to be a reporter long before earning her first byline. A study abroad later brought her to the U.S., where she put down roots.

​

She now calls Los Angeles home, where she lives with her proud fifth-generation Californian husband, son, and two dogs—one of which is an aging dachshund who has spent the last 12 years curling his long body into an ergonomically ideal shape beside her, doubling as a very warm armrest for nearly every story she's ever written.

​

Photo credit: Sam Steiner