Jeanne Darst is an American author. She is a regular contributor to ''

This American Life ''This American Life'' (''TAL'') is an American monthly hour-long radio program produced in collaboration with Chicago Public Media and hosted by Ira Glass. It is broadcast on numerous public radio stations in the United States and internatio ...

'' and has written for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', ''

The New York Times Magazine ''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine supplement included with the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted many notable contributors. ...

'', and ''

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Australia'', an Australian fashion magazine ** ''Vogue China'', ...

''. Her memoir, ''Fiction Ruined My Family'', was published in October 2011 by Riverhead Books.

Early life

The youngest of four girls, Darst was born in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

and moved to Stony Hill Farm in

Amagansett, New York Amagansett is a census-designated place that roughly corresponds to the hamlet by the same name in the Town of East Hampton in Suffolk County, New York, United States, on the South Shore of Long Island. As of the 2010 United States Census, ...

when she was 7 so her father, a newspaperman and writer for '' Harper's Magazine'', ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper t ...

'', and ''The New York Times'', could write his first novel. The family planned to return to Missouri after one year. The family did not move back to St. Louis, however, they moved to

Bronxville Bronxville is a village in Westchester County, New York, United States, located approximately north of Midtown Manhattan. It is part of the town of Eastchester. The village comprises one square mile (2.5 km2) of land in its entirety, ...

, where Darst attended

Bronxville High School Bronxville Union Free School District is a public school district serving the Village of Bronxville, Westchester County, New York. In 2012, 1635 students were enrolled in the district elementary, middle and high school which are all housed wit ...

. She received her B.A. at SUNY Purchase where she began to write and perform her plays. On her father's side was a family of writers. Her grandmother, Katharine Darst, was a writer for the ''

St. Louis Globe Democrat The ''St. Louis Globe-Democrat'' was originally a daily print newspaper based in St. Louis, Missouri, from 1852 until 1986. When the trademark registration on the name expired, it was then used as an unrelated free historically themed paper. Orig ...

'', with a daily column called "Here and There" and a Sunday column called "The Back Seat Driver". She also had a radio show on

KMOX KMOX (1120 AM) is a commercial radio station in St. Louis, Missouri. Owned by Audacy, Inc., it is a 50,000 watt Class A clear-channel station with a non-directional signal. The KMOX studios and offices are on Olive Street at Tucker Bouleva ...

, a CBS affiliate, in the 1940s. Her grandfather, James Darst, was a reporter for the ''St. Louis Globe Democrat'' as well as director of

Fox Movietone News Movietone News is a newsreel that ran from 1928 to 1963 in the United States. Under the name British Movietone News, it also ran in the United Kingdom from 1929 to 1986, in France also produced by Fox-Europa, in Australia and New Zealand until 1970 ...

. Darst's first cousin is Thomas French, Pulitzer Prize -winning journalist for the ''

St. Petersburg Times The ''Tampa Bay Times'', previously named the ''St. Petersburg Times'' until 2011, is an American newspaper published in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. It has won fourteen Pulitzer Prizes since 1964, and in 2009, won two in a single ...

''. Her great uncle was Joseph Darst, mayor of St. Louis from 1949–1953. Darst's mother, Doris Jeanne Gissy, was, at age 14, the youngest person to appear on the cover of ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twi ...

''. Gissy appeared on the magazine's cover in August 1956 for horse riding along with her sister Ruth Gissy.

Writing career

Her memoir, ''Fiction Ruined My Family'', was published in October 2011 by Riverhead Books. It was excerpted in the October 2011 issue of ''Vogue''. ''Fiction Ruined My Family'' is Darst's memoir growing up in a literary family and battling an alcohol addiction. Janet Maslin of the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' called it "a winningly snarky memoir" and ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'' called it "darkly comic" and "highly entertaining." Darst wrote and produced a pilot of Fiction Ruined My Family for HBO. She has written for television since 2015. Her play, Je Regrette Tout!, based on the life of her mother and

Edith Piaf Edith is a feminine given name derived from the Old English words ēad, meaning 'riches or blessed', and is in common usage in this form in English, German, many Scandinavian languages and Dutch. Its French form is Édith. Contractions and var ...

, was produced by Phantom Theater in Vermont. In 2018 Darst adapted JAWS for the stage and recruited her family to be in it in Phantom Theater's barn in Warren, Vermont.

References

External links

Jeanne Darst on This American Life''San Francisco Chronicle'' book review''Chicago Tribune'' book review''Boston Globe'' book review
{{DEFAULTSORT:Darst, Jeanne Living people Writers from St. Louis People from Amagansett, New York People from Bronxville, New York Year of birth missing (living people)