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

This American Life ''This American Life'' is a weekly hour-long American 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 internationally, and is ...

'' and has written for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', ''

The New York Times Magazine ''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine 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. The magazi ...

'', and ''

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** '' Vogue Adria'', a fashion magazine for former Yugoslav countries ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ' ...

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

Riverhead Books Riverhead Books is an imprint of Penguin Group (USA) founded in 1994 by Susan Petersen Kennedy. Writers published by Riverhead include Ali Sethi, Marlon James, Junot Díaz, George Saunders, Khaled Hosseini, Nick Hornby, Anne Lamott, Carl ...

Early life

The youngest of four girls, Darst was born in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...

and moved to Stony Hill Farm in

Amagansett, New York Amagansett is a census-designated place that roughly corresponds to the Hamlet (New York), hamlet by the same name in the Administrative divisions of New York#Town, Town of East Hampton (town), New York, East Hampton in Suffolk County, New Yor ...

when she was 7 so that her father, a newspaperman and writer for ''

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 United States. ''Harper's Magazine'' has ...

'', ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is a progressive American monthly 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 ...

'', 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 Administrative divisions of New York#Village, village in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County, New York (state), New York, United States, located approximately north of Midtown Manhattan. It is part of the Adminis ...

, 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 2023, 1603 students were enrolled across the district's elementary, middle and high schools. Bronxville High ...

. She received her B.A. at

SUNY Purchase The State University of New York at Purchase, commonly referred to as Purchase College or SUNY Purchase, is a Public college, public Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Purchase, New York. Established in 1967 by G ...

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'', 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 broadcasting, AM) is a commercial radio station in St. Louis, Missouri, owned by Audacy, Inc. The station is a 50,000 watt List of North American broadcast station classes, Class A clear-channel station with a omnidirectional ante ...

, 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 was a newsreel that ran from December 1927 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 Spain in the early 1930s a ...

. Darst's first cousin is Thomas French,

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

-winning journalist for the ''

St. Petersburg Times The ''Tampa Bay Times'', called the ''St. Petersburg Times'' until 2011, is an American newspaper published in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. It is published by the Times Publishing Company, which is owned by The Poynter Institute f ...

''. 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 a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellen ...

''. 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

. It was excerpted in the October 2011 issue of ''Vogue''. ''Fiction Ruined My Family'' is Darst's memoir growing up in a literary family yet battling an alcohol addiction. Janet Maslin of the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

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

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'' called it "darkly comic" and "highly entertaining." Darst wrote and produced a pilot of Fiction Ruined My Family for

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

. 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 word , meaning ''wealth'' or ''prosperity'', in combination with the Old English , meaning '' strife'', and is in common usage in this form in English, German, many Scandinavian lang ...

, 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)