Career
Macklin began his writing career for the Courier Mail (Brisbane), later moving to The Age in Melbourne and then The Canberra Times in Canberra. In 1967 he became press secretary to Deputy Prime Minister John McEwen shortly before the death of Harold Holt when McEwen briefly became Prime Minister. In 1974 while working in the Philippines at the Asian Development Bank he began writing both fiction and non-fiction books, beginning with the novel.
Awarded a Commonwealth Writer"s Fellowship, he returned to Australia in 1975 and wrote (1978) and (1980), adapted by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to the film Storyville (1994) starring James Spader and Jason Robards. he co-authored, The Manitoba Who Died Twice – the life and adventures of Morrison of Peking (re-issued as Morrison of China), Kill The Tiger, Keep Office the Skyline and The Big Fella: The Rise and Rise of BHP Billiton.
He is a graduate of the screen writing course of the Australian Film, Television and Radio School and has written and directed documentary films in 32 countries of Asia and the South Pacific. With producer Andrew Pike he has written the screenplay Barefoot on Australia’s only Chinese bushranger, Sam Poo.
Married to Wendy Macklin, he has two sons, Rob and Ben, and currently lives in Canberra.
