Emily St. James (formerly Emily Nicole VanDerWerff; born November 30, 1982) is an American

critic A critic is a person who communicates an assessment and an opinion of various forms of creative works such as Art criticism, art, Literary criticism, literature, Music journalism, music, Film criticism, cinema, Theater criticism, theater, Fas ...

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

, podcaster, and

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

. She primarily writes about

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

. She has written for '' Vox'', '' The A.V. Club'', ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'', '' Grantland'', and ''

Slant Magazine ''Slant Magazine'' is an American online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New Yor ...

'', among others.

Education

St. James graduated from

South Dakota State University South Dakota State University (SDSU or SD State) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Brookings, South Dakota, United States. Founded in 1881, it is the state's largest university and is the sec ...

in 2004 with a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

, 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 of accuracy. The word, a noun, applies to the journ ...

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

Career

From 2009 to 2014, St. James was the TV editor for '' The A.V. Club'', helping to build the TV Club, known for television criticism of shows episode by episode. 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 their Critic at Large. She is also involved in ''Arden'', a

true crime True crime is a genre of non-fiction work in which an author examines a crime, including detailing the actions of people associated with and affected by the crime, and investigating the perpetrator's Motive (law), motives. True crime works often ...

parody A parody is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satire, satirical or irony, ironic imitation. Often its subject is an Originality, original work or some aspect of it (theme/content, author, style, e ...

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 of digital journalists headquartered in Washington, D.C., Washington D.C., United States. The founding members first convened in December 1999 in Chicago. ...

for her media criticism around

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fear in its viewers. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with Transgressive art, transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements of the genre include Mo ...

s, coverage of Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign announcement, and

review A review is an evaluation of a publication, product, service, or company or a critical take on current affairs in literature, politics or culture. In addition to a critical evaluation, the review's author may assign the work a content rating, ...

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 original series aired from September 10, 1993, to Ma ...

'', 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. History Tor was founded by Tom Doherty, ...

''.'' This was followed in 2024 by '' Lost: Back to the Island: The Complete Critical Companion to the Classic TV Series'', which she co-wrote with Noel Murray. In July 2020, she spoke out against fellow ''Vox'' columnist Matthew Yglesias, 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 United States. ''Harper's Magazine'' has ...

'' which called for an end to what it described as "illiberalism." After a tweet about her criticism by Jesse Singal, one of the letter's signatories, St. James reported that she had received

death threats A death threat is a threat, often made Anonymity, anonymously, by one person or a group of people to kill another person or group of people. These threats are often designed to intimidate victims in order to Psychological manipulation, manipulat ...

. St. James has appeared 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 jo ...

'' during their ''May the 4th Marathon'' and ''Holiday Special.'' After leaving ''Vox'', St. James moved into novel and television writing. She and her spouse joined the writers' room of '' Yellowjackets'' for the show's third season, receiving writing credits for the sixth episode, broadcast in March 2025. In the same month, St. James' debut novel, ''Woodworking'', was also published by Zando. The book, a

coming-of-age story In genre studies, a coming-of-age story is a genre of literature, theatre, film, and video game that focuses on the growth of a protagonist from childhood to adulthood, or "coming of age". Coming-of-age stories tend to emphasize dialogue or interna ...

set in

Mitchell, South Dakota Mitchell is a city in and the county seat of Davison County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 15,660 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census making it the List of cities in South Dakota, sixth most populous city in South Dako ...

, is about Erica Skyberg, a high school teacher who is a

closeted ''Closeted'' and ''in the closet'' are metaphors for LGBTQ people who have not disclosed their sexual orientation or gender identity and aspects thereof, including sexual identity and sexual behavior. This metaphor is associated and sometime ...

trans woman A trans woman or transgender woman is a woman who was assigned male at birth. Trans women have a female gender identity and may experience gender dysphoria (distress brought upon by the discrepancy between a person's gender identity and their ...

. In order to figure out how to come out to her peers, Erica enlists the help of her student, Abigail Hawkes, a trans girl (and the only openly trans person Erica knows).

Personal life

St. James came out as a

in 2019. She was interviewed on NPR's '' Weekend Edition Sunday'' about her experience with gender. She is a founding member of the Trans Journalists Association and helped create its

style guide A style guide is a set of standards for the writing, formatting, and design of documents. A book-length style guide is often called a style manual or a manual of style. A short style guide, typically ranging from several to several dozen page ...

, a resource for other journalists to more accurately write about transgender people and issues. She has been married to writer Libby Hill since 2003. She changed her last name from VanDerWerff to St. James in January 2022. St. James had a child in 2022.

References

External links

''Vox'' author profile

Newsletter: Episodes

''Arden'' podcast
{{DEFAULTSORT:St. James, Emily 1982 births Living people American LGBTQ journalists American transgender women American transgender writers LGBTQ people from South Dakota Journalists from South Dakota South Dakota State University alumni Transgender women writers Transgender journalists 21st-century American women writers 21st-century American women journalists 21st-century American journalists 21st-century American LGBTQ people