Emily St. James
Born (1982-11-30) November 30, 1982
Armour, South Dakota, U.S.[1]
Occupation
  • Critic
  • writer
  • journalist
  • author
EducationSouth Dakota State University
Notable worksMonsters of the Week: The Complete Critical Companion to The X-Files

Emily St. James (formerly Emily Nicole VanDerWerff; born November 30, 1982[2]) 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, among others.[3]

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 newspaper, The Collegian.[1]

Career

From 2009 to 2014, St. James was the TV editor for The A.V. Club, 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.[4]

In June 2014, St. James joined Vox as their culture editor,[5] going on to become the Critic at Large.[6] She is also involved in Arden, a true crime parody podcast,[7] as well as running Vox's Primetime, a television history podcast.[8] She was a finalist in the 2015 Online Journalism Awards for her media criticism around horror films, Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign announcement, and her review of Mad Max: Fury Road.[9]

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.[10]

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".[11] After a tweet about her criticism by Jesse Singal, one of the letter's signatories, St. James reported that she'd received death threats.[12][13]

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.[14]

St. James has appeared multiple times on The George Lucas Talk Show, 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 woman in 2019.[15][16] She was interviewed on NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday about her experiences.[17] 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.[18]

She has been married to writer Libby Hill since 2003.[19] She changed her last name from VanDerWerff to St. James in January 2022, although initially only on a personal, rather than professional, basis.[20][21]

References

  1. 1 2 "Armour native writes TV reviews for Onion-related publication | The Daily Republic". June 24, 2019. Archived from the original on June 24, 2019. Retrieved September 15, 2020.
  2. ↑ St. James, Emily (December 1, 2018). "Of all the people I share a birthday with, I like to think I feel the strongest kinship with Mandy Patinkin". Twitter.
  3. ↑ "Articles published by Emily VanDerWerff". Muckrack. September 10, 2020. Retrieved September 15, 2020.
  4. ↑ Herman, Alison (July 31, 2018). "Previously On: How Recaps Changed the Way We Watch Television". The Ringer. Retrieved September 18, 2020.
  5. ↑ Adams, Sam (June 19, 2014). "A.V. Club Exodus Continues as Todd VanDerWerff Becomes Vox's First Culture Editor". IndieWire. Retrieved September 15, 2020.
  6. ↑ "Emily VanDerWerff Profile and Activity - Vox". www.vox.com. Retrieved September 15, 2020.
  7. ↑ ""My Story to Tell": Emily VanDerWerff on Nuance, Ambition, and Trans Storytelling". Wil Williams Reviews. June 4, 2019. Retrieved September 15, 2020.
  8. ↑ "Primetime". www.vox.com. Retrieved September 15, 2020.
  9. ↑ "Vox's Todd VanDerWerff's Cultural Criticism - Online Journalism Awards". June 24, 2019. Archived from the original on June 24, 2019. Retrieved September 15, 2020.
  10. ↑ "Re-open the X-Files with Monsters of the Week". Tor.Com. October 5, 2018. Retrieved September 15, 2020.
  11. ↑ Schuessler, Jennifer; Harris, Elizabeth A. (August 10, 2020). "Artists and Writers Warn of an 'Intolerant Climate.' Reaction Is Swift". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved October 1, 2020.
  12. ↑ "Trans Writer Says She's Getting Death and Rape Threats Over Her Reaction to Harper's 'Free Speech' Letter". Mediaite. July 9, 2020. Retrieved September 15, 2020.
  13. ↑ McRae, Emily. "One tweet can change your life". Retrieved December 30, 2020.
  14. ↑ McLaughlin, Kerry. "Emily VanDerWerff Finds Beauty in the Problematic". cutaway.shift.io. Retrieved October 1, 2020.
  15. ↑ VanDerWerff, Emily (June 3, 2019). "On coming out as trans in Donald Trump's America". Vox. Retrieved September 15, 2020.
  16. ↑ VanDerWerff, Emily (June 5, 2019). "Emily and Everything After". Noteworthy. Retrieved February 8, 2021.
  17. ↑ "'The Handmaid's Tale' And Coming Out As Transgender". NPR.org. Retrieved September 15, 2020.
  18. ↑ Tameez, Hanaa (July 1, 2020). "The Trans Journalists Association launches, with workplace advice and a style guide". Niemen Lab. Retrieved September 15, 2020.
  19. ↑ VanDerWerff, Emily (August 24, 2020). "Twitter Thread". Twitter.
  20. ↑ "I haven't changed it professionally yet, because what a pain, but I'm starting to go by Emily St. James on a personal basis..." Twitter. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
  21. ↑ Haggerty, Meredith (March 11, 2022). "Senior Correspondent Emily St. James to Cover Shifting American Identity". Vox. Retrieved March 23, 2022.
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