Mimi Swartz, the author, with Sherron Watkins, of Power Failure, The Inside Story of the Collapse of Enron, is an executive editor of Texas Monthly. Previously, she was a staff writer at Talk, from April 1999 to April 2001, and a staff writer at the New Yorker from 1997 to 2001. Prior to joining the New Yorker, she worked at Texas Monthly for thirteen years. In 1996 Swartz was a finalist for two National Magazine Awards and won in the public interest category for “Not What the Doctor Ordered.” She was also a National Magazine Award finalist for her November 2005 issue story on tort reform, titled “Hurt? Injured? Need a Lawyer? Too Bad!” and won the 2006 John Bartlow Martin Award for Public Interest, Magazine Journalism, for the same story. In 2013 she won her second National Magazine Award (again in the category of public interest), for “Mothers, Sisters, Daughters, Wives,” a compelling look at the state of women's health care in Texas.
Over the years, Swartz’s work has appeared in Vanity Fair, Esquire, Slate, National Geographic, and the New York Times’ op-ed page and Sunday magazine. It has also been collected in Best American Political Writing 2006 and Best American Sportswriting 2007. She has been a member of the Texas Institute of Letters since 1994. Swartz grew up in San Antonio and graduated from Hampshire College, in Amherst, Massachusetts. She now lives in Houston with her husband, John Wilburn, and son, Sam.
Articles by Mimi Swartz
A Seat at the Table
Mimi Swartz wonders why, in this day and age, there are so few Hispanics serving on the boards of Texas nonprofits.
Texas History in 601 Words
The story of Texas can be reduced to one sentence: somebody has something somebody else wants and will put up a fight to get. In the beginning, these fights were over land. The Spanish explorers came here in the 1500’s; ignoring native peoples, they claimed a vast region that…
Torn on the Bayou
Mimi Swartz on what Houston’s fractious mayoral race says about the city.
Can’t We Ever Get Over the Texas Stereotype?
Bryan Cranston’s portrayal of LBJ was just another sad caricature of what the world thinks a Texan ought to act like.
Cities, Slicker
Mimi Swartz on how the rise of our cities will lead to a new kind of government.
Rachel Bonyton's film "Big Men" follows Dallas oilman Jim Musselman as he contracts with the government of Ghana to find and develop the first oil field in that country.
The Houston Mom Taking on Big Ag
First Bettina Siegel went after the beef industry. Now she’s tackling the Chinese government.
Knowing My Place
Woodland Heights may not be the fanciest neighborhood in Houston, or the quietest, or the coolest (and it can be a little full of itself), but it’s mine.
Role Reversal
Ten Ways Caring for a Parent Is Like Raising a Toddler
If you have kids, being a caregiver to an elderly parent may feel a bit familiar.
