Michael Mason is an editor, writer, speaker, and journalist based in Tulsa. His works have appeared in several newspapers and magazines, including Discover, The New York Times, and The Believer. Mason has also appeared as a guest on several national media outlets, including the Lehrer Newshour, CBS News, NPR’s Morning Edition and The Diane Rehm Show. In 2010, he founded This Land Press, Oklahoma’s first New Media company, and serves as its editor.
Mason’s assignments have taken him into the Iraqi war zone, behind Vatican walls, and into aftermath of the World Trade Center. Along the way, he has built a reputation for noteworthy journalism. When Mason’s article, “Dead Men Walking,” appeared in Discover magazine, it ignited a national debate about the treatment of brain injured soldiers.
Mason’s first book, Head Cases: Stories of Brain Injury and Its Aftermath, is an exploration into the harsh realities endured by brain injury survivors. Since the publication of Head Cases, he has maintained a role as one of the country’s leading advocates for people with brain injury–he has addressed the Congressional Task Force on Brain Injury and has served as president of the Brain Injury Association of Oklahoma.
A native of Oklahoma, Mason has a long history of involvement in the Tulsa community. He has been a past president of the Tulsa Artist Coalition, and founded the popular cult journal Me Head, which reached more than 300,000 readers a month online. He has written articles for both the Tulsa World and The Oklahoman. He regularly speaks at local events, such as the John Hope Franklin Reconciliation Symposium, and dedicates much of his editorial efforts at This Land Press toward community improvement.
Mason is also a member of the PEN American Center. He has served as a board member of the Academy of Certified Brain Injury Specialists and as a past president of the Brain Injury Association of Oklahoma, and he has sat on two advisory councils committed to the bettering of treatment for veterans with brain injury.
In addition to his writing projects, Mason has produced several feature works that have played on public radio stations across the nation. In a project with Tulsa author Jeff Martin, Mason produced one of Oklahoma’s most popular podcasts, “Goodbye Tulsa,” a show that told the story of Tulsa through the lives of its citizens. Through This Land Press, Mason continues to produce audio content oriented to life in middle America.
In the fall of 2010, Mason left his job as a brain injury case manager to devote his energies to This Land Press. In its first several months of publication, This Land Press achieved international recognition for its journalism and was recognized by Columbia Journalism Review and Harvard's Nieman Foundation for Journalism. Through This Land, Mason also produced film work by directors Sterlin Harjo and Matt Leach, as well as a radio series by Abby Wendle. This Land ceased publication in 2017, and Mason has since turned his efforts toward a forthcoming book for which he recently received a Ferris Fellowship from UC Berkeley in 2022.
