Emily St. James (formerly Emily Nicole VanDerWerff; born November 30, 1982) is an American critic, journalist, podcaster, and author. She primarily writes about television. She has written for '' Vox'', ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...

'', ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'', ''

Grantland ''Grantland'' was a sports and pop-culture blog owned and operated by ESPN. The blog was started in 2011 by veteran writer and sports journalist Bill Simmons, who remained as editor-in-chief until May 2015. ''Grantland'' was named after famed ...

'', and ''

Slant Slant can refer to: Bias *Bias or other non-objectivity in journalism, politics, academia or other fields Technical * Slant range, in telecommunications, the line-of-sight distance between two points which are not at the same level * Slant d ...

'', among others.

Education

St. James graduated from

South Dakota State University South Dakota State University is a public land-grant research university in Brookings, South Dakota. Founded in 1881, it is the state's largest and most comprehensive university and the oldest continually-operating university in South Dakota. The ...

in 2004 with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

, majoring in

Journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (profes ...

. During her time, she wrote for the university's student newspaper, ''The Collegian''.

Career

From 2009 to 2014, St. James was the TV editor for ''

'', helping to build the ''TV Club'', known for criticism of television shows episode by episode. ''The TV Club'', while led by St. James, has been credited with helping build the online culture of television recaps. In June 2014, St. James joined '' Vox'' as their culture editor, going on to become the Critic at Large. She is also involved in ''Arden'', a true crime parody podcast, as well as running ''Vox''s ''Primetime'', a television history podcast. She was a finalist in the 2015

Online Journalism Awards The Online News Association (ONA), founded in 1999, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization located in Washington D.C., United States. It is the world's largest association of digital journalists, with more than 2,000 members. The majority of ONA ...

for her media criticism around

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...

s, Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign announcement, and her review of '' Mad Max: Fury Road''. In 2018, St. James and fellow critic Zack Handlen wrote ''Monsters of the Week: The Complete Critical Companion to

The X-Files ''The X-Files'' is an American science fiction on television, science fiction drama (film and television), drama television series created by Chris Carter (screenwriter), Chris Carter. The series revolves around Federal Bureau of Investigation ...

'', which was published by

Tor Books Tor Books is the primary imprint of Tor Publishing Group (previously Tom Doherty Associates), a publishing company based in New York City. It primarily publishes science fiction and fantasy titles, and is the largest publisher of Chinese scien ...

''.'' In July 2020, she spoke out against fellow ''Vox'' columnist

Matthew Yglesias Matthew Yglesias (; born May 18, 1981) is a liberal American blogger and journalist who writes about economics and politics. Yglesias has written columns and articles for publications such as ''The American Prospect'', ''The Atlantic'', and ''Sla ...

, following his signing of an

open letter An open letter is a Letter (message), letter that is intended to be read by a wide audience, or a letter intended for an individual, but that is nonetheless widely distributed intentionally. Open letters usually take the form of a letter (mess ...

published in ''

Harper's Magazine ''Harper's Magazine'' is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts. Launched in New York City in June 1850, it is the oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the U.S. (''Scientific American'' is older, b ...

'' which called for an end to what it described as "

cancel culture Cancel culture, or rarely also known as call-out culture, is a phrase contemporary to the late 2010s and early 2020s used to refer to a form of ostracism in which someone is thrust out of social or professional circles—whether it be online, on ...

". After a tweet about her criticism by

Jesse Singal Jesse Singal is an American journalist. He has written for publications including '' New York'' magazine, ''The New York Times'' and ''The Atlantic''. Singal also publishes a newsletter on Substack and hosts a podcast, ''Blocked and Reported'', ...

, one of the letter's signatories, she reported that she'd received death threats. Since beginning her own podcast, ''Arden'', St. James has become more reluctant to engage in traditional review criticism, instead preferring to write about how a work fits into the larger culture. St. James has appeared multiple times on ''

The George Lucas Talk Show ''The George Lucas Talk Show'' is an improvised talk show in New York City hosted by comedian Connor Ratliff, who appears as George Lucas, the creator of '' Star Wars'', and he interviews real guests as themselves in a panel format. He is join ...

,'' including during ''The George Lucas Talk Show All Day Star Wars Movie Watch Along'' and ''The George Lucas Holiday Special.''

Personal life

St. James came out as a

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...

woman in 2019. She was interviewed on

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

's ''

Weekend Edition Sunday ''Weekend Edition'' is a set of American radio news magazine programs produced and distributed by National Public Radio (NPR). It is the weekend counterpart to the NPR radio program ''Morning Edition''. It consists of ''Weekend Edition Saturday'' ...

'' about her experiences. She is a founding member of the Trans Journalists Association and helped create its

style guide A style guide or manual of style is a set of standards for the writing, formatting, and design of documents. It is often called a style sheet, although that term also has multiple other meanings. The standards can be applied either for gene ...

, a resource for other journalists to more accurately write about transgender people and issues. She changed her last name from VanDerWerff to St. James in January 2022, although initially only on a personal, rather than professional, basis. She has been married to writer Libby Hill since 2003.

External Links

* at vox.com
''Episodes''
An Emily St. James Subscription Newsletter
''Arden'' Podcast
*

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:St. James, Emily American writers 1982 births Living people Transgender women American LGBT journalists LGBT people from South Dakota Journalists from South Dakota South Dakota State University alumni