Emily St. James
{{Short description|American journalist and author}}
{{distinguish|Emily St. John Mandel}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2020}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Emily St. James
| image =
| caption =
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1982|11|30|mf=y}}
| birth_place = Armour, South Dakota, U.S.
| death_date =
| death_place =
| occupation = {{hlist|Critic|writer|journalist|author}}
| education = South Dakota State University
| language =
| subject =
| spouse = {{marriage|Libby Hill|2003}}
| children = 1
| notableworks = Monsters of the Week: The Complete Critical Companion to The X-Files
| portaldisp =
}}
Emily St. James (formerly Emily Nicole VanDerWerff; born November 30, 1982{{Cite twitter |number=1068573546832515073 |user=emilyvdw |title=Of all the people I share a birthday with, I like to think I feel the strongest kinship with Mandy Patinkin. |first=Emily |last=St. James |date=December 1, 2018 |access-date= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210314085915/https://twitter.com/emilyvdw/status/1068573546832515073 |archive-date=March 14, 2021}}) is an American critic, journalist, podcaster, and author. She primarily writes about television. She has written for Vox, The A.V. Club, The Guardian, the Los Angeles Times, Grantland, and Slant Magazine, among others.{{Cite web |last= |first= |date= |title=Emily St. James |url=https://muckrack.com/emily-st-james |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231004155114/https://muckrack.com/emily-st-james |archive-date=October 4, 2023 |access-date=January 28, 2025 |website=Muck Rack |url-status=live }}
Education
St. James graduated from South Dakota State University in 2004 with a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in journalism. During her time, she wrote for the university's student publication, The Collegian.{{Cite web |last=DenOuden |first=Candy |date=May 31, 2014 |title=Armour native writes TV reviews for Onion-related publication |url=https://www.mitchellrepublic.com/lifestyle/arts-and-entertainment/armour-native-writes-tv-reviews-for-onion-related-publication |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190624134002/https://www.mitchellrepublic.com/entertainment/3192309-armour-native-writes-tv-reviews-onion-related-publication |archive-date=June 24, 2019 |access-date=January 28, 2025 |website=Mitchell Daily Republic}}
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.{{Cite web|last=Herman|first=Alison|date=July 31, 2018|title=Previously On: How Recaps Changed the Way We Watch Television|url=https://www.theringer.com/tv/2018/7/31/17633128/television-recaps-history-alan-sepinwall-jeff-jensen-twop|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201109033733/https://www.theringer.com/tv/2018/7/31/17633128/television-recaps-history-alan-sepinwall-jeff-jensen-twop|archive-date=November 9, 2020|access-date=September 18, 2020|website=The Ringer|url-status=live}}
In June 2014, St. James joined Vox as their culture editor,{{Cite web |last1=Adams |first1=Sam |date=June 19, 2014 |title=A.V. Club Exodus Continues as [Emily St. James] Becomes Vox's First Culture Editor |url=https://www.indiewire.com/2014/06/a-v-club-exodus-continues-as-todd-vanderwerff-becomes-voxs-first-culture-editor-126378/ |access-date=September 15, 2020 |website=IndieWire |language=en}} going on to become their Critic at Large.{{Cite web |title=Emily St. James |url=https://www.vox.com/authors/emily-st-james |access-date=January 28, 2025 |website=Vox}} She is also involved in Arden, a true crime parody podcast,{{Cite web|date=June 4, 2019|title="My Story to Tell": Emily VanDerWerff on Nuance, Ambition, and Trans Storytelling|url=https://wilwilliams.reviews/2019/06/04/my-story-to-tell-emily-vanderwerff-on-nuance-ambition-and-trans-storytelling/|access-date=September 15, 2020|website=Wil Williams Reviews|language=en|archive-date=September 19, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200919111601/https://wilwilliams.reviews/2019/06/04/my-story-to-tell-emily-vanderwerff-on-nuance-ambition-and-trans-storytelling/|url-status=live}}{{Cite web |last=McLaughlin |first=Kerry |date=March 3, 2020 |title=Emily VanDerWerff Finds Beauty in the Problematic |url=https://cutaway.shift.io/emily-vanderwerff-finds-beauty-in-the-problematic |access-date=January 28, 2025 |website=MediaSilo Blog |language=en}} as well as running Vox{{'}}s Primetime, a television history podcast.{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=May 30, 2019 |title=Vox and the Vox Media Podcast Network Launch Primetime |url=https://www.voxmedia.com/about-vox-media/2019/5/30/18645345/vox-and-the-vox-media-podcast-network-launch-primetime |access-date= |website=Vox Media |language=en}} She was a finalist in the 2015 Online Journalism Awards for her media criticism around horror films, coverage of Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign announcement, and review of Mad Max: Fury Road.{{Cite web |date=2015 |title=Vox's [Emily St. James]'s Cultural Criticism |url=https://awards.journalists.org/entries/voxs-todd-vanderwerffs-cultural-criticism/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190624140849/https://awards.journalists.org/entries/voxs-todd-vanderwerffs-cultural-criticism/ |archive-date=June 24, 2019 |access-date=January 28, 2025 |website=Online Journalism Awards}}
In 2018, St. James and fellow critic Zack Handlen wrote Monsters of the Week: The Complete Critical Companion to The X-Files, which was published by Tor Books.{{Cite web |last=Handlen |first=Zack |last2=St. James |first2=Emily |date=October 5, 2018 |title=Re-open the X-Files with Monsters of the Week |url=https://reactormag.com/excerpts-monsters-of-the-week-the-x-files/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250221104917/https://reactormag.com/excerpts-monsters-of-the-week-the-x-files/ |archive-date=February 21, 2025 |access-date=January 28, 2025 |website=Reactor |publisher=Tor Publishing Group |url-status=live }} 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.{{Cite web |date=2024-06-28 |title=‘Lost’: Back to the Island: The Complete Critical Companion to the Classic TV Series by Emily St James, Noel Murray |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781419750502 |access-date=2025-03-14 |website=www.publishersweekly.com}}
In July 2020, she spoke out against fellow Vox columnist Matthew Yglesias, following his signing of an open letter published in Harper's Magazine which called for an end to what it described as "illiberalism."{{Cite news |last1=Schuessler |first1=Jennifer |last2=Harris |first2=Elizabeth A. |date=August 10, 2020 |title=Artists and Writers Warn of an 'Intolerant Climate.' Reaction Is Swift. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/07/arts/harpers-letter.html |url-access=subscription |access-date=October 1, 2020 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 10, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210310120534/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/07/arts/harpers-letter.html |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |last=Belvedere |first=Berny |date=2020-07-13 |title=Harper’s Scarlet Letter |url=https://medium.com/arc-digital/harpers-scarlet-letter-f7e29846fdbf |access-date=2025-01-28 |website=Arc Digital |language=en}} After a tweet about her criticism by Jesse Singal, one of the letter's signatories, St. James reported that she had received death threats.{{Cite web |last=Christopher |first=Tommy |date=July 9, 2020 |title=Trans Writer Says She's Getting Death and Rape Threats Over Her Reaction to Harper's 'Free Speech' Letter |url=https://www.mediaite.com/online/trans-writer-says-shes-getting-death-and-rape-threats-over-her-reaction-to-harpers-free-speech-letter/ |access-date=January 28, 2025 |website=Mediaite |language=en |archive-date=November 23, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241123092025/https://www.mediaite.com/online/trans-writer-says-shes-getting-death-and-rape-threats-over-her-reaction-to-harpers-free-speech-letter/ |url-status=live }}{{cite web|first1=Emily|last1=McRae|accessdate=2020-12-30|title=One tweet can change your life|url=https://signalhfx.ca/one-tweet-can-change-your-life/}}
St. James has appeared on The George Lucas Talk Show during their May the 4th Marathon and Holiday Special.{{Cite web |title=The George Lucas Talk Show (TV Series 2020– ) - Full Cast & Crew |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12661310/fullcredits/#cast |access-date=January 28, 2025 |website=IMDb |archive-date=February 2, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250202073112/https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12661310/fullcredits#cast |url-status=live }}
After leaving Vox, St. James moved into writing fiction. She and her spouse joined the writers' room of Yellowjackets for the show's third season, receiving writing credits for the sixth episode,{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt34476941/fullcredits/?ref_=tt_ov_wr#writer |title="Yellowjackets" Thanksgiving (Canada) (TV Episode 2025) - IMDb |access-date=2025-03-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250314143048/https://www.imdb.com/title/tt34476941/fullcredits/ |archive-date=2025-03-14 |via=www.imdb.com}} broadcast in March 2025. In the same month, St. James' debut novel, Woodworking, was also published by Zando.{{Cite web |last=egalluscio |date=2025-03-07 |title=What Emily St. James Hopes You Learn About the Trans Experience From Her Debut Novel |url=https://pen.org/emily-st-james-the-pen-ten/ |access-date=2025-03-14 |website=PEN America |language=en-US}} The book, a coming-of-age story set in Mitchell, South Dakota, is about Erica Skyberg, a high school teacher who is a closeted trans woman. 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 trans woman in 2019.{{Cite web |last=St. James |first=Emily |date=June 3, 2019 |title=On coming out as trans in Donald Trump's America |url=https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/6/3/18647615/coming-out-transgender-handmaids-tale-emily-todd-vanderwerff |access-date=January 28, 2025 |website=Vox |language=en |archive-date=June 3, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190603155104/https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/6/3/18647615/coming-out-transgender-handmaids-tale-emily-todd-vanderwerff |url-status=live }} She was interviewed on NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday about her experience with gender.{{Cite web |last=Garcia-Navarro |first=Lulu |date=June 9, 2019 |title='The Handmaid's Tale' And Coming Out As Transgender |url=https://www.npr.org/2019/06/09/731044423/the-handmaid-s-tale-and-coming-out-as-transgender |access-date=January 28, 2025 |website=NPR |language=en |archive-date=November 30, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241130103410/https://www.npr.org/2019/06/09/731044423/the-handmaid-s-tale-and-coming-out-as-transgender |url-status=live }} She is a founding member of the Trans Journalists Association and helped create its style guide, a resource for other journalists to more accurately write about transgender people and issues.{{Cite web |last=Tameez |first=Hanaa' |date=July 1, 2020 |title=The Trans Journalists Association launches, with workplace advice and a style guide |url=https://www.niemanlab.org/2020/07/the-trans-journalists-association-launches-with-workplace-advice-and-a-style-guide/ |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=January 28, 2025 |website=Nieman Lab}}
She has been married to writer Libby Hill since 2003.{{Cite web |last=St. James |first=Emily |date=2021-01-01 |title=The Lost Year: A quiet year, alone in one’s head |url=https://www.vox.com/22188382/depression-quarantine-hospital-libby-lost-year |access-date=2025-01-28 |website=Vox |language=en-US}} She changed her last name from VanDerWerff to St. James in January 2022.{{Cite web |last=Haggerty |first=Meredith |date=2022-03-11 |title=Senior Correspondent Emily St. James to Cover Shifting American Identity |url=https://www.vox.com/2022/3/11/22971346/emily-st-james-will-be-moving-into-a-new-role-as-a-senior-correspondent |access-date=2022-03-23 |website=Vox |language=en |archive-date=April 1, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220401042041/https://www.vox.com/2022/3/11/22971346/emily-st-james-will-be-moving-into-a-new-role-as-a-senior-correspondent |url-status=live }} St. James had a child in 2022.{{Cite web |last=St. James |first=Emily |date=2023-07-03 |title=Welcome back |url=https://episodes.ghost.io/welcome-back/ |access-date=2025-01-28 |website=Episodes |publisher=Ghost |language=en |archive-date=December 3, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241203071940/https://episodes.ghost.io/welcome-back/ |url-status=live }}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://www.vox.com/authors/emily-st-james Vox author profile]
- [https://episodes.ghost.io/ Newsletter: Episodes]
- [https://www.ardenpodcast.com/ Arden podcast]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:St. James, Emily}}
Category:American LGBTQ journalists
Category:American transgender women
Category:American transgender writers
Category:LGBTQ people from South Dakota
Category:Journalists from South Dakota
Category:South Dakota State University alumni
Category:Transgender women writers
Category:Transgender journalists
Category:21st-century American women writers
Category:21st-century American women journalists