I’m a narrative nonfiction writer from Nashville. I Also ghostwrite biographies and memoirs.
Selected Clips
You'll hear 30 languages in the halls of Glencliff High School. Gaby Fuentes teaches each kid to love their heritage through mariachi. (The Pride of Nashville | Oxford American, Summer 2021).
A story of succession, inheritance, what parents want for their kids, the weight of a family name, and the cost of culinary greatness at a Nashville icon. (The Arnold Dynasty | Gravy, Spring 2023)
How one man lit up North Nashville through basketball. (The Lantern | Flagrant Magazine, Spring 2023)
Nashville's Woodbine neighborhood is the city in miniature: tall-skinny duplexes alongside ancient cottages. Carlos Uroza ministers to people on both sides of the divide. (The Pastor of Little México | Bitter Southerner, Spring 2022)
Two scenes from the life of Major League Soccer Hany Mukhtar. (Getting to Know Hany Mukhtar | Nashville Scene, Winter 2023)
On grief, identity, and becoming who you're supposed to be. (Pride 2023: Come Out And Play | Nashville Scene, Summer 2023)
Ghostwriting for Chef Maneet Chauhan. (The Spices and Rices of Nolensville Pike | Bitter Southerner, Spring 2021)
In an evolving Nashville, the owner of Broadway honky-tonk Robert's Western World clings to the past and holds back the rivers of change. (The Bard of Lower Broadway | Oxford American, Winter 2022)
A food-based friendship helps two MLS players navigate the loneliness of professional sports. (The Postgame Meal | Gravy, Fall 2023)
What I Do
I’ve written and reported narrative features for The Oxford American, Bitter Southerner, Gravy, SB Nation, and the Nashville Scene, among others.
I’ve also ghostwritten biographies and memoirs for chefs, politicians, CEOs, and former NFL players. Feel free to reach out to me for rates.
Here’s the required self-promotion: in 2024, I was nominated for a James Beard Media Award. I have a bachelor’s degree from Davidson College, where I received magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa honors and won my department’s Outstanding Major award. I also have a master’s degree in narrative nonfiction from the University of Georgia, where my peers chose me as graduation speaker.
When I’m not writing, you can find me playing Ultimate Frisbee way too competitively. I also coach the high school boys frisbee team at University School of Nashville (back-to-back Tennessee state champs!)
Testimonials
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"Mikeie Honda Reiland is a zealot for narrative who knows and respects the power of staying in scene to render a world. He’s a keen interviewer, able to harvest multi-sensory inputs from mundane-seeming conversations. I’ve known him for five years now, first as an MFA student, now as a trusted colleague. I know Mikeie to be an empathetic soul, focused on understanding the hopes and fears of the people in his stories. He knows that access to their interior monologues is key to character development. And he flat-out can write."
John T. Edge, author of The Potlikker Papers (2017) and House of Smoke (2025).